The Robotnik war: The untold story
by Omegahud
Summary: Mobius the once glorious planet, now nothing but a radioactive wasteland controlled by the evil Dr. Robotnik. Any who opposed him where either killed or robotized to do his evil bidding, there were few that survived his takeover...even fewer willing to fight back. This story is about two friends who stood their ground as brothers in arms. No matter what came there way.
1. Prologue

**A/N: This is my first Fanfic ever, and is based in the Archie comic Universe so...hope ya'll enjoy. Constructive criticism is greatly appreciated :D. I do not own the Sonic the hedgehog Franchise or any of it's characters. The only thing I own is my OC's and this story. **

**A/N: Update: I apologize for many mistakes made when I first posted these chapters. I'm currently going back and fixing them.**

 **The Robotnik war: The untold story**

 **Prologue**

Robotropolis, once known as Mobotropolis. One of the greatest cities on Mobius, was now nothing more than wasteland full of Dr. Robotnik's factories and full of machines that done his evil bidding. It was almost impossible to live there without Robotnik knowing. ALMOST impossible, two Mobians however had been doing so for six years. So come, let us see what there are up to

ROBOTROPOLIS

2400 hours

Six years into the Robotnik war

Sitting, that's all he had been doing for four hours straight. Sitting in a dark alley behind a dumpster waiting for one, just one stinking transport ship to fly by. Yet nothing but a few Swatbots had passed by.

Sighing as he shifted his RPG and Mini-gun that had CHAINSAW chalked on it. To a more comfortable position the green hedgehog around 5 feet 2 inches with unruly hair, a white beard and patch of fur on his chest and wearing matching gloves and boots. Turned to another black Hedgehog. The black one stood 3 feet 8 inches and was wearing black body armor with black boots. Unlike the green one his quills we're black and had orange fur on his muzzle. With two pistols strapped low on his legs and a double bladed knife sheathed on his back. The black one blended into the dark well enough that the green one wouldn't even have known that he was there had he not fought with him for years.

"How much longer, Mortifer? Can't we just go home and try again tomorrow?"

The black hedgehog known as Mortifer didn't even take his eyes off the sky as he replied in a low tone. "You mean you want to get home so you can eat that chocolate I hid from you behind the spare parts, Woodstock."

"Well, yeah considering you expect me to live off of one bar of chocolate every two days!" the one called Woodstock said while banging the back of his head loudly on the dumpster, much to Mortifer's annoyance.

Both where relieved as a the familiar roar of the supply ship they had been waiting for had arrived. Moving into positions they had done countless times, Woodstock aimed his RPG at it's thrusters as Mortifer took off toward the area. He had predicted that it would crash in. 'Everything's going as planned' Thought Mortifer 'If Woodstock actually fires at the correct time for once... that would be a dream come true.'

He suddenly veered off course knowing the inevitable as Woodstock counted down the seconds to when he was supposed to fire over his com link. "Fifteen...fourteen...thirtee- Aw the heck with it."

Mortifer rolled his eyes as Woodstock fired twelve seconds early like he did every time.

"Even after lecturing him hundreds of times he still never listens." Mortifer muttered to himself

"Uh Mortifer, do robots scream?" Puzzled by Woodstock's question Mortifer looked up at the crashing ship, and could barely hear the sounds of panicking animals coming from inside the ship.

Skidding to a halt he watched as it crashed into a large building while his mind pieced it all together. They didn't only shoot down one of Robotnik's ships, they hit a ship hijacked by rebels. The Freedom Fighters had a habit of interfering with their supply runs. He didn't blame them either. After all Robotnik had increased security measures lately and they had been attacking critical locations on both sides to get whatever they needed for years. And their particular skills made Robotnik and the Knothole Freedom Fighters envy them. Thus each side was constantly trying to find the hedgehogs, making them have to relocate every few days and making it harder for them to get what they needed.

"Woodstock we got KFF(Knothole Freedom Fighters) in the ship".

"Are they alive?" Woodstock responded with concern in his voice. Pulling out a energized knife Mortifer cautiously approached the ship's door and kicked the door down, only to find a young fox, a half roboticized Rabbit, and a squirrel all slightly banged up and unconscious.

"They're alive."

Sheathing his knife he started going through their supplies finding anything that could be of use to them as Woodstock hurriedly walked into the ship and started checking them for any major wounds.

"Caring for those Rebels is going to be the death of you." Mortifer said over his shoulder as he put the last of the supplies together and watched Woodstock wrap medical tape around a nasty bruise on the young fox's head.

"Well, someones gotta care." He replied while gently laying the fox back down Mortifer just let out a huff of annoyance and went to move everything over to their Stealth ship, but he was stopped by what Woodstock asked. "Can we move them to a safe place?"

"There isn't enough tim-" Mortifer began.

"PLEASE?" Woodstock cut in. Angrily Mortifer threw the crate down and stomped over to Woodstock. Then threw the rabbit on one shoulder and the squirrel on the other and pointed at the crates.

"Fine!" Mortifer yelled, "You move the supplies and I'll move the Rebels!"

Woodstock jumped up and smiled, giving Mortifer a quick "Thank you." as he grabbed two crates then took off toward their Stealth plane. While Mortifer ran the other direction looking for somewhere to put them, and found a nice cozy dumpster. Dumping both animals in it he ran back to grab the fox.

As he picked him up the ship began making a beeping noise, immediately Mortifer ran to the door and leaped out as the ship exploded, blowing him and the kid into the building's walls. Woodstock ran to where they were and sighed in relief to find both unharmed.

"Good thing you got him when you did Mort." Or so he thought.

"Yeah, good thing." Mortifer replied sarcastically while standing up and grunting in pain. Looking down at his torso he frowned at what he saw. A large piece of metal was stuck deep into his torso just under his armor and his blood was already forming a puddle on the ground. Gritting his teeth he picked the fox up again and ran to the dumpster then threw him in it.

Running back and into the their own ship he stumbled then leaned against the pilot seat as he suddenly became dizzy. Seeing Woodstock look at him worriedly he waved him off, then started flipping switches as he sat down and flew towards home.

-0130 Hours-

After flying over their hideout multiple times and doing a routine scan with infrared, they finally landed. Engaging the ship's cloaking device Mortifer climbed out of the plane. Then opened an old rusted door, and walked inside of what once was a weapons factory at one time. And yanked the piece of shrapnel out while Woodstock brought the supplies in.

Opening a small furnace door Mortifer grabbed the handle of a hot piece of metal, which they always kept heated for such occasions, and pushed it against the wound. Upon hearing the sound of hot metal against flesh, Woodstock winced in sympathy as he sat the crates down.

'It was my fault he got hurt.' He thought 'But if he hadn't of helped them they'd be dead right now.' While mentally arguing with himself Woodstock's eyes landed on a crumpled piece of paper left on the floor.

Picking it up he re-read the same message that the KFF had sent months ago. Begging them to help save Mobius and stop the evil Dr. Robotnik. And Mort's answer, like every other time Woodstock asked was.

"We've been surviving on our own for years, I'm not going to throw away everything we earned with our sweat and blood. Just to fight in a stupid war between Freedom and Tyranny." He wasn't always so cold hearted, Woodstock remembered a time when you couldn't find a kinder soul on Mobius than Mort. Now, he done things that would make even the bravest of mobians tremble in horror to keep the two of them alive.

"Mort should lighten up a bit" Woodstock thought as he walked to a crate and began rummaging through it. Grabbing some gauzes and Alcohol. Woodstock then walked over and gave them to Mortifer.

"Go and check the mines." Woodstock frowned as he said that

"Don't you need help with that?"

Mortifer replied with a stern "No" as he began wrapping his wound with gauze.

Woodstock shrugged as he went outside and checked the landmines set up around the perimeter. He remembered when Mortifer wasn't so cold hearted, but that was before the war.

Woodstock frowned. "Alot of things were different then." After checking the mines Woodstock went back inside and laid in his hammock, closing his eyes for a quick nap.


	2. Chapter 1

**A/N: I'm currently working on Chapter 2 so it may be awhile before I post it. Many thanks to Sonadovahkiin for pointing out my mistakes :). As always constructive criticism is greatly appreciated, and I hope you readers enjoy this chapter.**

 **I do not own the Sonic the hedgehog Franchise or any of it's characters. The only thing I own is my OC's and this story.**

 **Chapter 1**

CLANG! Woodstock woke from his slumber and opened one eye lazily. To see a large bug rummaging through a pile of cans. "Huh?" Woodstock muttered as he looked at a watch on his wrist, it was eight forty a.m. 'That can't be right.' he thought, double checking the time to make sure he read it correctly.

Woodstock was truly shocked, Mortifer never ever let him sleep for seven hours. Happy for the few extra hours of sleep Woodstock smiled and stretched his arms. Picking up his minigun as he stood up Woodstocks nose picked up the scent of fresh coffee. Grabbing his empty mug and daily ration of MRE's off a small table. Woodstock made his way into the largest part of the building and sighed at what he saw.

Mortifer, leaning against one of the machines while constantly looking over a faded map. And armed with his two semi-auto pistols, and a Dragoon revolver.

"Couldn't sleep again I take it?" Asked Woodstock while grabbing the half empty coffee pot off the furnace and pouring the rest into his cup.

"There are more important things to do than sleep." Replied Mortifer as he folded the map up and put it into his jacket.

"Like blowing things up?" Woodstock asked as he took a sip of coffee.

"Somewhere in that category." Said Mortifer as he pointed toward their Jet. "The Stealth Jet's low on fuel, and without it we have no quick getaway if they find our hideout."

Woodstock shrugged, "So? We sneak into one of the factories grab some fuel get out." He said and took a big swig of his coffee

"That would have worked." Mortifer replied. "But due to our recent attacks for such fuel, they've tripled security on every factory that makes the fuel we need. So until we figure out another power source for it we'll have to go in fighting."

"Sounds like a good plan to me." Woodstock replied as he finished the rest of his coffee

"Then we're leaving now." Mortifer said as he walked towards the door. Woodstock grabbed his minigun as he stuffed the entire MRE into his mouth and swallowed the package with it, then quickly caught up with Mortifer out the door.

"It's a nice day." Said Woodstock as they walked.

"Hmph." Replied Mortifer without looking.

"Do you think your armor would look good on me?" Woodstock asked as he walked in front of Mortifer backwards.

"No." Mortifer replied without a glance. Woodstock let out a small groan

"But how will we know if you never let me try it on!" Averting his eyes to Woodstock, Mortifer's usual frown turned into a scowl.

"You know exactly why I don't take this armor off."

"Not even for a second?" Woodstock whined.

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"Pleeeeease?"

"No."

"Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeease?"

"No."

"Pretty please?"

"No."

"Pretty please with skulls and bombs on top?"

"No."

"Super duper pretty please with a certain blue hedgehog dead on top?"

"Stop talking." Mortifer said as he stopped and listened.

"Why?" Woodstock asked as he stopped walking also.

Hearing heavy metal footsteps heading their way Mortifer drew his dragoon pistol and motioned with his head toward a bookstore that was cleaned out and had both glass doors broken.

"We need to hide in their NOW." Both Hurriedly ran into the store and dove behind the checkout booth as a squad of Swatbots came into sight.

Pulling the hammer back on his revolver Mortifer peeked over the booth as they walked by the front of the store.

"We'll Whadda ya see?" Woodstock asked.

"Ten, They were in a fight recently. Looks like Rebels by the shape of the bullet holes." Mortifer whispered as the squad of Swatbots walked out of sight and the sound of their footsteps slowly faded.

"That means there could be survivors." Whispered Woodstock as he reached for his med kit.

"Doubt it, They were patrolling not searching. If there is anyone left then they're as good as dead." Said Mortifer as he walked out of the store and knelt down by the footprints the Swatbots left. "This is good." He said as he studied their tracks. "They came from somewhere close to the factory."

"How is that a good thing? Isn't that where we're going?" Woodstock asked as he walked out scratching his head in confusion.

Sighing Mortifer replied. "Have you learned nothing from the eleven years we've fought together?"

"Nope." Said Woodstock. Mortifer stood up and both of them started walking toward the factory again.

"If they've cleared the area from rebels That means the bots will be more focused on finding threats inside the factory and leave less of them to guard the fuel."

"Oh, I get it now!" Woodstock said as he smiled.

"Good." Said Mortifer. "Now Shut Up." Still smiling Woodstock fell silent...until a thought came into his head a few minutes later.

"You know, we could use some people in our group." he said. "Maybe someone lik-" Stopping in mid sentence Woodstock's smile died off his lips at what he saw. Scattered across the ground in between two crumbling brick buildings, was the broken bodies of eight or more dead Freedom Fighters.

Holstering his pistol Mortifer slightly lowered his head in respect as he walked past them and continued on his trek to the factory.

Shaking his head sadly at Mortifer, Woodstock turned and done the Sign of the Cross, said a quick prayer for the families who would find their loved ones dead. Then slowly caught up with Mortifer.

This wasn't the first time they didn't bury the dead. Years ago they would have. But now they couldn't risk it, they had one too many close calls. And Mortifer said it was a waste of time. Woodstock still believed they should still respect the fallen but he never questioned Mortifer's decision.

"Ooof!" Woodstock's thoughts came to an abrupt halt as he walked into Mortifer and received a glare from him as he turned around.

"Oh we're there." Woodstock said as he glanced around the corner of a building. A couple of hundred meters away was a large factory, "Still looks like the same gloomy box as last time." He said while stroking his chin.

The "Box" as Woodstock had always called it was a large square building. A total of one mile long and wide, not including the part of the Factory that was underground. And its walls and only door on the front, made out of solid titanium alloy.

"Look! Robotnik sent us some Cannon fodder Mort!" Woodstock cried with glee. While pointing at the hundreds of Swatbots guarding around the factory. "Thats so nice of him. Can I shoot them now Mort? Can I?" He said with stars in his eyes as he jumped around with his minigun.

"No." Mortifer said as he drew his twin black semi auto pistols. "Not until I get close enough to the factory."

"Aww. You know I hate waiting" Woodstock slumped his shoulders as he watched Mortifer take off silently towards the factory.

"Alright I'm close enough. Set your RPG to laser beam and aim for the center of the door then wait for my command to fire." Mortifer's voice crackled over the communicator a few seconds later.

"Setting to Beam mode." Woodstock replied and Flipped a small red switch on the side of the RPG then took aim. "Aiming at door….aaaaaand ready!" There was a stillness in the air as Woodstock waited for the command. He could feel the adrenaline starting to kick in from the excitement that was sure to come.

"Fire." Squeezing the trigger Woodstock took a stance as it charged up. Then fired a beam of red energy seconds later that caused him to skid back several feet from the concussion.

As it Hit the solid door it went straight through it creating a perfectly round hole...on both sides of the building.

Pumping his fist Woodstock let out a loud "Booyah!" as Mortifer ran through the hole without the Swatbots on the outside seeing him. Upon not seeing Mortifer enter the building they turned their attention to Woodstock and opened fire on his position.

Now anyone in this type of situation would take cover and return fire so they would have less of a chance of getting hit, it's common sense.

Woodstock however said "Let's do this Chainsaw!" To his minigun as he charged directly Into the lasers and let loose cutting down hundreds of bots. While laughing like a maniac as their lasers hit his body and ricocheted off him leaving scorch marks all over his body. Smiling he yelled "I love this job!".

Meanwhile inside Mortifer smirked as he heard Woodstock laughing over the gunfire.

"Remember Woodstock, Don't draw too much attention." Mortifer said into his COMLINK. As if on cue, a huge explosion rocked the factory. Morifer scowled at Woodstocks ignorance. But sighed and began checking the fuel containers, but cocked his head as he sensed something. and in one smooth motion sidestepped as a laser flew past him as he pulled up one of his pistols and fired a single shot.

A moment later a smoking Swatbot collapsed from behind a container. Mortifer paused, calculating his next move as a squad of bots came rushing toward his position. Quickly jumping up and grabbing a pipe overhead. He swung himself up as they reached the fallen bot.

"Bot-224 Reporting, Bot downed in Sector 46B. No hostile detected. All units on High alert." "Roger Bot-224, Hostile is detected in Sector 46A Report there immediately. Bot-684 out." Mortifer quietly dropped down as the bots quickly rushed toward Woodstocks position.

He continued with his search but finding each one had been emptied, and recently.

Suddenly sensing a door open to his left and a squad of five Swatbots heading toward him. Mortifer got a running start then jumped into the air and kicked the first Bot that came around the corner. Completely shredding it's head with the spikes on his boot. Grabbing another Bot before they could react he ripped it's head off then threw it hitting another one and destroying it.

Finally reacting to what was happening the two remaining bots opened fire with their laser rifles. Which Mortifer dodged with ease as he ran behind them and jump kicked both in the head completely caving in their heads and knocking them against the walls. Mortifer then checked to see if there were any other bots. Seeing that it was clear, he continued checking the containers until he found one and began walking to it.

He stopped suddenly. His eyes followed a trail of wires to a box beside the fuel container.

"Crap." Mortifer muttered as he ran back to the hole he came in through. "Woodstock, fall back ASAP!" he shouted into his COMLINK.

"But I thought we're supposed to be getting fuel?" Woodstock replied as Mortifer dashed outside the factory and growled

"Change of plans". Moments later the Factory exploded, sending flames hundreds of feet into the sky and disintegrating everything inside.

Mortifer came to a halt beside Woodstock and both of them watched the Factory as it collapsed, blowing smoke and debris everywhere.

"Well, so much for "Don't draw too much attention!" And I thought I was being loud" Woodstock commented as he threw the last SWAT bot's head over his shoulder.

"I didn't cause the explosion." Mortifer replied in a low tone. "The KFF planted a bomb, And apparently decided to detonate it with me in there."

"How do you know it was KFF?" Asked Woodstock. Mortifer glared at the burning factory.

"By the design. It looked just like that one that took out the power grid in Sector E5." Woodstock winced at the memory of that incident.

"You mean the one that blew up half our supply cache in E5?"

"Yes, the same one." Mortifer said over his shoulder as he started walking."We need to head back before reinforcements arrive." Woodstock looked around. SWAT bot pieces were everywhere, Burn marks from laser rifles riddled the street, and holes from the fight covered the ground.

"Well heck, that was a waste of freakin effort." With of snort of disgust, Woodstock followed Mortifer.

"By the way, was that my fault at E5?"

"Yes, you should have thought before you stored the supplies next to a explosive reactor!" Mortifer replied.

"Hey it's not my fault I can't read!" Woodstock said defensively.

Mortifer Rolled his eyes at Woodstock and holstered his pistols.

The walk back was uneventful, Woodstock rambled on about nonsense the whole time. While Mortifer would just answer all his questions with a grunt since he wasn't really paying attention to Woodstocks babbling.

"You know, I wonder what happened to that Mussian Bulldog we used to work with. What was his name?" Woodstock asked only for his question to be met with silence this time. "Mort?" Turning around Woodstock saw Mortifer listening intently to something.

Raising his arm Mortifer motioned for Woodstock to turn his communicator on.

Giving him a thumbs up Woodstock turned on the communicator in his ear and listened.

"Sonic this is Sally, do you copy?" A female voice crackled over the radio. "Sonic this is Sally DO YOU COPY?" The voice repeated.

"Sally? Ain't she the king's daughter?" Woodstock asked as he looked at Mortifer questionly.

"Yes." Said Mortifer. "Try to triangulate the position of that transmission".

"Okie dokie Morty." Woodstock replied. As he began typing on his wrist pad. "My calculations suggest that that signal is coming from. Woodstock paused as he raised one finger. "Sector 49A." Mortifer thought for a moment.

"That's only three sectors away". He was quiet for a moment.

"What would would we want with this Sally person anywho?" Woodstock asked.

"She could have useful Intel, or the KFF might pay a decent ransom." Mortifer replied.

Woodstock's face became dark as he said "We agreed not to fight KFF unless necessary Mort."

"They almost killed me earlier, remember? So they owe us, big time." Mortifer replied with a flat tone. Woodstock scratched his head in confusion.

"Oh, guess your right, so we gonna go catch us some KFF or what?" Woodstock asked as he put his mini gun on his shoulder and smiled.

"Not yet." Replied Mortifer as he waited for response from the person Sally was trying to contact.

"SONIC THIS IS SALLY DO YOU COPY!?"

"Yeah yeah I'm here sall, whats up?" A young males voice responded.

"Sonic! Why haven't you responded to our calls? We thought you were in trouble!"

The one called Sonic snickered and replied "Mwah? In trouble? Don't make me laugh."

Sally sighed then said. "Riight, anyway the reason we needed to talk is because were going to have to postpone bombing the other fuel factories."

"Why? Something go wrong?" Sonic asked.

"No everything went according to plan. But before the bomb detonated something attacked the factory."

"What do you mean "SOMETHING"?"

"We don't know exactly, there was too much smoke around it for us to make it out. But whatever it was the Swatbots guns didn't seem to be hurting it! In fact it wiped out every Swatbot that was there, and it was laughing like crazy at them!"

There was a short pause before Sonic spoke again. "Ya think it was someone from the mystery group that shot you guys down?"

"Defiantly." Sally Confirmed "After the bomb detonated and the smoke cleared, it was gone. Whatever it was didn't even leave any footprints."

"Huh, but why do we need to wait on blowing the rest of the factory's sky high?" Sonic asked.

"Because after it attacked they tightened security on every Factory even more. We're going to have to wait for a while before bombing anythi-." Suddenly someone could be heard in the background talking to Sally. She quickly told whoever it was a quick "Okay." Before she got back on the radio with Sonic. "I've gotta go sonic there needing me, just be safe okay?"

Mortifer knew Sally probably rolled her eyes as Sonic replied."Aren't I always?"

Turning off his communicator Mortifer turned to Woodstock and said "We're heading back to base."

"Okay, but why? I thought we we're going after Sally?" Woodstock asked.

Clenching his fist Mortifer replied. "No."

"Then why are we going back to base?" Asked Woodstock again.

"Because we're going Hunting."


	3. Chapter 2

**A/N: Hope you readers enjoy this chapter, as always constructive criticism is greatly appreciated :). And many thanks to my proofreader GorillaBub97.**

 **Chapter 2**

 **6 days later 1337 Hours**

The sound of gunfire from Swatbots and KFF fighting could be heard all over Robotropolis, along with cries of the wounded and dying. Explosions were going off at different locations from bombs the KFF tried to plant. Some bomb carriers made it to their targets, but many of the carriers didn't. They're communications were constantly filled with request for backup, and evac choppers to retrieve the wounded.

While the battles raged something else was abrew.

Down a small street several footsteps echoed off the building walls, as a small group of two KFF ran. One slightly ahead of the other, a Walrus with violet fur and green eyes, wearing a yellow baseball cap backwards, a green toolbelt, and yellow gloves. Suddenly took cover behind an old rusted car and raised one hand up, signalling for the other one to also take cover.

Scurrying off the street the other soldier hid behind a staircase wall, as a platoon of Swatbots ran out of an alleyway and continued down a street away from them.

"Uh Rotor could someone else perhaps um, carry ze bomb?" Said the one that was hiding behind the staircase with a heavy french accent to the Walrus. He was a Coyote, much shorter than the Walrus and with blonde hair that was very well kept, along with his brownish and pale yellow fur, red blue military uniform with red cuffs and golden Epaulets. And was Struggling to keep his balance with a large backpack on his back.

"No can do Antoine." Replied the Walrus called Rotor "I carried it halfway and you said you would carry it the other half remember?" Rotor finished while running into the open and taking cover behind another car.

Running the best he could and nearly tripping the Coyote caught up with the Walrus, and hid behind the same car.

"Yes, is zere any chance zat ze bomb could explode?" Antoine asked nervously.

"Don't worry that won't happen." Assured Rotor as Antoine sighed in relief "Unless you get shot in the back or it bounces slightly too hard."Rotor added while peeking around the car and watching more Swatbots walk by.

"Zhat won't happen zough...righz?" Antoine asked wringing his hands together and breaking out in a cold sweat.

"Eh, there's a 50/50 chance." Replied Rotor "But don't worry I'll protect you." Taking off towards a semi truck Rotor suddenly fell in mid run as red energy coursed through him and knocked him out.

Letting out a yelp then quickly covering his mouth Antoine shakily peeked over the car. Only to become more afraid from seeing no Swatbots on the street. Trembling in fear he slowly gathered enough courage to crawl towards Rotor, and nearly jumped out of his skin as something was pushed against the back of his head. Getting on his knees Antoine raised both his hands in the air. Then fainted after hearing the 'Click' of a gun.

Taking a second to make sure the Coyote wasn't faking, a black Hedgehog behind him then rummaged through the backpack and pulled the bomb out. Grabbing Antoine by the jacket he then dragged him to the Semi and shoved him under it, along with Rotor. After making sure they were hidden out of sight, he quickly climbed up one of the buildings. And took off jumping rooftop to rooftop while staying out of sight of any Swatbot aircraft.

A few minutes later of him running and jumping he stopped by a door on the roof. Checked to make sure no one was watching then opened it, went inside and closed the door behind him. Walking down a short staircase Mortifer entered an almost empty room with a table in the center. And went to its only window, with the glass already busted out. Then leaned down and grabbed a large sniper rifle that was put there hours earlier. and watched for anything while he waited.

Several miles away from him, another group of KFF was in a similar situation.

"Who do you think it is?" Whispered a young two tailed fox with orange and white fur, blue eyes, and wearing white gloves and red sneakers.

"I dunno sugarcube." Replied a female Rabbit, with light orange-blonde fur, emerald green eyes, wearing a pink singlet, and both of her legs and one arm where cybernetic. As she charged up her cybernetic arms laser beam and pointed in the direction where just seconds ago Something large crashed into a building.

As the young fox watched for whatever had crashed into the building he heard the Rabbit's voice whisper behind him.

"Tails." She said "I'm gonna check on the bomb in your backpack. I need you to keep watch while I do that okay Sugar?"

"Okay." Replied the fox. Feeling the weight of the bomb lifted off him, the fox called Tails eyes stayed glued to the building.

"How's the bomb Bunnie?" He asked as he turned and looked at the Rabbit.

"Gimme a second and I'll check." She replied.

Giving her a puzzled look the fox questioned. "But didn't you just check it?"

"No." She said as she reached into the backpack. "Don't you fret none it's...still…..Oh dear." Bunnies voice was filled with worry as her hands came out of the bag, _empty_. "Where's the bomb?" Bunnie cried as she frantically rummaged through the bag.

"You just said you would check it!" Yelled Tails.

Both turned their heads as they heard another large crash by a building across the street. Tails suddenly pointed to an alley as he whispered "Look! In that alley!"

Bunnie looked at where he was pointing. And saw a large figure standing by a old vehicle tinkering with the missing bomb.

"Tails, go hide in that store." Bunnie said as she began moving towards the large figure.

"But..." Tails began to say.

"Now!" Bunnie replied sternly.

Tails quickly obeyed. Hiding in a old store, he watched through the window as Bunnie approached the figure and raised her gun.

"Hand back that bomb or I'll shoot."

She was shocked as a voice just like hers replied. "Bad idea sugar" As the figure turned and faced her. The alley was too dark for Bunnie to make out what the figure was, only that it was large. Almost twice her size.

The figure took a step toward Bunnie as she raised her gun and fired. She gasped in surprise as the laser hit the figure square in the chest sending sparks everywhere, but didn't even faze him.

Suddenly he drew a pistol with his right hand and fired with lighting speed. Having no time to react the laser hit Bunnie directly in the torso.

"Bunnie!" Tails cried as he rushed out of hiding to her as she collapsed.

The figure pointed his gun at Tails but hesitated, then fired several shots missing him. looking behind him Tails saw several Swatbots had been blown to pieces.

Lowering his arm, he looked at Tails and said "Don't worry kiddo, she'll be fine. Better get the heck out of here." with a different voice than before. He then turned and ran down the street, running through several walls in the process and disappeared.

* * *

Mortifer turned toward the door as he heard loud footsteps outside. Then turned back as he said "Don't make so much noise Woodstock".

Woodstock stepped into the room and tossed a bomb he was carrying into a corner. "Hey you should try sneaking when you weigh 200 pounds." Woodstock replied, Mortifer just grunted. "So, how'd you're hit go?" Woodstock asked as he walked over to the window.

"Fine. Did you finish you're hit without attracting an entire SWAT bot army?" Mortifer replied as his eyes scanned out the window.

"Eh...I kinda got seen by the KFF when I accidently armed the bomb after I nabbed it, but don't worry! I don't think they saw who I was." Woodstock said as he shifted the rifle from one shoulder to the other nervously. "Plus I disarmed the bomb before it detonated too!"

Mortifer slapped Woodstock in the back of his head as he said"How many times do I have to say this. DO NOT BE SEEN!"

Woodstock thought for a moment. "You've told me that 677 times to be exact."

"And I will continue to do so until you follow that order."Mortifer remarked.

"So, how much longer?" Asked Woodstock as he went to bang his head against the wall, but was stopped by an unseen force.

"We will have to wait even longer if you compromise our position with your childish endeavors." Replied Mortifer.

"Hey thats not fair! How am I supposed to not be bored if you stop me from banging my head with your, mind thingy."

"Telekinesis." Mortifer corrected.

"Ugh, whatever. Sniping is soooo boring."Grumbled Woodstock as he sat on the floor and pulled out a grenade, then tossed it back and forth.

"Once we have all the bombs in our possession you can dispose of them however you like." Stated Mortifer as he zoomed in on someone moving around inside a building across from them.

"Yes!" Woodstock said happily as he done a fist pump.

"Now get over here." Mortifer ordered.

"Okay." Woodstock replied as he stood up and walked over to Mortifer.

"There's our target, in the building straight ahead."

Squinting his eyes Woodstock asked. "You mean the female squirrel with a blue jacket, and backpack on her back that's eight hundred and fifty meters away?"

"Yes, I need you to see if the bombs in her backpack."

"Are you sure it's her? What if it's a robot in disguise!" Gasped Woodstock.

"Shut up and tell me if the bomb is in the backpack." Sighed Mortifer.

Staring at her for a second Woodstock shook his head "Nope, she don't have it."

Suddenly jerking his gun up Mortifer fired his gun as a laser grazed his helmet. While Sally jumped from surprise as two gunshots suddenly rang out. Then a few seconds later a Stealthbot fell from the roof, and crashed onto the floor beside her.

"You saved her!" Woodstock said, shocked at what he thought Mortifer had done. And not knowing that the laser that barely missed Mortifer, had caught the spiked quills on his head on fire.

"If the bot had been aiming at her, I wouldn't have shot it."Mortifer stated as he swung the rifles sling onto his shoulder, then turned around. "Track down Sonic he most likely has it, and put out that fire on your head."

Licking his hand Woodstock patted out the flames on his head, then started typing on his wrist pad. "Tracking signal, hacking into communicatio-"

"Inside voice Woodstock."Cut in Mortifer.

"Whats an inside voice? Is it the things I always hear talking in my head?" Asked Woodstock.

"Just find Sonic."Mortifer said as he facepalmed.

"Okay Mort."Hitting a few more buttons on his wrist pad, Woodstock locked onto Sonic's location. "Found him!" He said with joy.

"Where?" Asked Mortifer

"Sector A40." Said Woodstock as Mortifer suddenly scowled.

"He's already at the fuel factory with the bomb."

Shoving the rifle into Woodstock's hands, Mortifer quickly made his way up the stairs.

"Hey! What am I supposed to do with this?" Woodstock quietly yelled.

"Take it back to HQ, I'll meet you there when I'm finished with Sonic." Growled Mortifer as he took off towards the factory.

 **Fuel factory**

 **Sector A40**

Sonic had just put the bomb in place as he typed in the code and armed it.

"Oh Sall, guess who just beat the record time for arming a bomb _again_." Pointing at himself Sonic grinned. "Thats right me, the fastest thing alive." He was met with static from the communicator in his ear. "Sall? Hello? Huh."

Turning around to exit the factory he stopped as he heard several beeps behind him. Turning back around Sonic instantly became alert of his surroundings, as he looked back at the bomb. It had been disarmed. Slowly walking back Sonic punched in the code and rearmed it, only for it to disarm itself.

"So that's what everyone was whispering about!" He had been wondering why they had gathered together and talked quietly earlier. Apparently it was about pranking him.

"I'll have to plan a revenge prank when I get back." Sonic thought out loud as he typed the code again, and again, and again as fast as he could, but it kept disarming just as fast. "Man, Rotors gotten really good at making bombs." After awhile of trying to arm it and becoming extremely annoyed, Sonic typed the code then quickly hit the lock button. Permanently arming it, and locking the disarm code. "Ha HA!" Sonic yelled triumphantly. "Take that pranksters! Nobody pranks Sonic the Hedgehog and gets away with it! I will have my revenge!"

Tired of sitting still, and seeing the bombs timer hit a minute and thirty seconds. Sonic turned around to leave. But quickly jumped back as a knife flew past where his head was milliseconds ago. And watched as it was about to hit the bomb, but stopped and floated in midair.

"Now that's something you don't see everyday." He said as he rubbed his chin and watched the knife float backwards into the darkness. Laser shots suddenly flew out from behind him, and came close to hitting him. But he dodged each one with ease.

After dodging all of them, Sonic crossed his arms and started tapping his foot impatiently, as he called out. "Hey slow poke in the shadows! Hurry up and come out. Cause I got, a minute and fourteen seconds before I leave you in the dust." Nothing but silence answered him. "IIIIIm waaaaiting."

This time he was answered with a swift punch to the side of the head. Catching himself Sonic skidded backwards and put his hand on his head from the pain. Slightly disoriented he looked up to see a figure in black battered armor, with a black helmet and red visor.

"Whoa." Sonic Whistled as he let go of his aching head and smiled. "They said you mystery guys looked stupid, they were wrong. You define stupid looks!" The figure simply ignored him and started walking toward the bomb.

Seeing his back was toward him, Sonic ran at him full speed and reared back as he went to hit him. But was stopped as he turned around just as fast as Sonic and caught his fist. Swinging his other hand at Sonic's torso, His knife floated into his hand but was stopped by Sonics free hand before it could cut him open.

both were in a stalemate, until The figure suddenly yanked Sonic forward and raised his leg up and tried to kick him. Raising both arms up Sonic blocked it, but was sent skidding back again. Charging back at him the two began fighting, both hitting each other and blocking with lighting speed.

'I arrived too late.' Mortifer thought as he blocked an uppercut from Sonic. Going on the defensive side Mortifer began thinking of any way he could stop the bomb, while blocking each hit from Sonic. Pulling it off the wall was not an option, since it would cause it detonate. Cutting off the piece of wall that the bomb was on with his knife and telekinesis would take too long. And disarming it wasn't possible.

Sighing inwardly as he blocked Sonics fist from hitting his helmet. Mortifer knew that he was left with two , he could get out before it exploded and continue to fight Sonic. Or option two, stay inside until the bomb detonated to get something they needed. Choosing option two over one, Mortifer decided to end the fight as the bomb counted down the last few seconds.

Spinning around Mortifer put as much force as he could into his last kick. And heard a loud crack and Sonic cry out in pain as his boot hit him in the ribs. But Mortifer was struck at the same time by Sonics fist, cracking his visor and causing him to fly backwards.

Standing the best he could with broken ribs Sonic ran as fast as he could out of the factory as the bomb blew it to pieces. Skidding to a halt Sonic watched from a good distance away, looking for any sign that the Attacker had survived. After seeing nothing He tried contacting Sally again, while keeping an eye out for him.

"Sall? Can you hear me?"

" _SONIC! I kept trying to contact you but something was jamming the signal! Are you alright!?"_ Came Sallys worried reply.

"Eh, besides a few broken ribs I think I'm fine." He said Arrogantly then winced from the pain in his side, and Sally yelling into his ear.

" _What do you mean a FEW BROKEN RIBS!?_ _What happened!?"_

"Well I had a run in, with one of our mystery figures."

Letting out a hiss as the wound in his side became more painful Sonic muttered "And he wasn't friendly either."

" _Meet us back at the usual spot, we need to get you back to Knothole as soon as Possible!"_

"Roger that Ma'am." Replied Sonic as he started running, but much slower than usual.

* * *

Back at the factory, Swatbots had arrived to clear the rubble and search the area. One Swatbot began clearing a pile of concrete, when a hand shot out of it and stuck a knife in its head.

Using his telekinesis to feel everything around him, Mortifer made sure no Swatbots were heading his way. Before stealthily pushing himself out of the pile of rubble. A medium sized container also rose out of the rubble and was placed gently beside him. He was slightly banged up, with a few cuts. And a couple of spots where the fire had burned through the armor. Looking down at a sparking device on his arm, Mortifer frowned. The force field device that he used to survive the blast seemed broken. And currently they didn't have the rare parts to fix it.

Feeling what he needed to get out without being seen with his telekinesis. Mortifer grabbed a fallen Swatbots gun, a hundred feet from his position. Pointed at the nearest Bots, and fired. Once all of them had focused their attention on the gunfire Mortifer slipped out with the container in tow.

"Woodstock, I got some fuel. Get ready to open the ship's hatch I'll be there soon." Ordered Mortifer while Running as fast as he could toward their HQ. But Woodstock's usual affirmative wasn't heard, there was only silence.

"Woodstock." Repeated Mortifer. "Woodstock I'm not in the mood for any of your pranks." Honestly Mortifer was never in the mood for Woodstock's pranks thus why Woodstock rarely done any.

Drawing his pistols as he stopped outside of their hideout, Mortifer slowly walked toward the door and used telekinesis to sense everything inside the building. Sensing no one inside the old factory he turned his attention to their cloaked ship and holstered his pistols. Mortifer had felt one person inside it. Woodstock was apparently playing one of the video games he had found in a store awhile back. And turned off his communicator, again.

Letting out a sigh Mortifer pushed the button inside the ship to lower the ramp with his telekinesis. Then walked inside and pushed it again to close it.

The Stealth ships interior was quite large, sporting two large bedrooms on the right side. An armory filled full of weapons that could retract into the ceiling, along with a highly advanced flight system. The cockpit was full of the most advanced equipment and autopilot. Including several built in bass speakers. The cloaking, designed were there was no possible way it could be tracked or seen by anything.

Setting the fuel container on the floor, Mortifer began walking toward Woodstock's room as his helmet retracted back into his armor. Opening Woodstock's door Mortifer head was jarred back by from how high the volume of the song was playing. Along with Woodstocks guitar as he jumped around, pressing the keys that appeared on the flatscreen tv on the wall.

His room was a disaster, filled with games, metal parts, gadgets, and guns he tinkered with covered the floor. His Hammock in the corner was filled with random things he had found, and the bombs they had taken.

Not noticing Mortifers Presence, Woodstock slid on his knees while doing a guitar shred, but was stopped in the middle of doing it when his tv turned off.

"Noooooo!" He Cried, Turning around Woodstock saw Mortifer standing by the door with his arms crossed. "Mort! I was just about to beat SpeedDemon's record!" Woodstock yelled as he fell to the floor and began banging his head into it.

"All those hours wasted!"

Bang!

"My highscore, ruined!"

Bang!

"If only I had saved my high score on 5Cloud online storage!"

Bang!

"Now….it is lost, forever."

"Why was you communicator turned off." Questioned Mortifer.

"Because, I couldn't hear the music as good with it in my ear." Answered Woodstock as he stood up.

Staring hard at him, Mortifer Said "What did I tell you about doing that."

Putting his hands behind his back Woodstock sighed

"Not to turn off, or take off your communicator no matter what."

While looking down at the floor and kicking a gear like a child that had gotten caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

"And why do we not do that?"

"Because one of us could be in a very bad predicament."

"Right, and here." Said Mortifer as he handed Woodstock the device on his arm."The forcefield generator worked to a point."

Examining the damaged device for a moment, Woodstock started taking it apart

"Almost everything in it is fried." Woodstock stated. "I think I can use what's left of it for my project I've been working on."

"Good." Mortifer said while walking out of Woodstocks room.

Waiting till he heard Mortifer exit the room and the door hiss close, Woodstock then reached over and flicked his communicator and gaming console back on.

 _"And everything off at eight."_ said Mortifer over the comlink while Woodstock let out a groan.

 **FREEDOM FIGHTER HQ**

 **LOCATION: KNOTHOLE**

"I should have known they would do this! Gah! I'm such an idiot for thinking they would help us!" Sally was pacing back and forth in one Knothole's hospital rooms, blaming herself for what happened to Sonic. "We need fighters with their skill and I was so focused on getting them to join, I ignored the fact that they had had attacked us repeate-"

"Sall!" Sonic cut in as a Doctor finished wrapping his side then exited the room to give them some privacy. "It's not your fault." Comforted Sonic "And besides, you should have seen the other guy." He said as he quickly went to put his arms behind his head but stopped and winced in pain.

"Sonic, he just fractured your ribs, I'm not in the mood for jokes."

"Fine, so how long before I can start running again?"

"Six weeks."

"WHAT!?" Yelled Sonic in pain as he sat straight up. "I'll die from boredom by then!"

"There are plenty of things you can do that doesn't require running. I'll be back, I need to check on Bunnie." Sally said as she walked out and shut the door.

Truly She didn't really need to check on Bunnie that badly, she just didn't want to break down in front of Sonic. Sallys guilt suddenly turned into anger. She wouldn't let them get away with this, no she would put an end to these attacks on the KFF. She would even hunt them by down by herself if she had to! Attacking Sonic was the last straw!

Going a few rooms down Sally entered Bunnies room and saw her lying in bed, with Tails standing beside it.

"How you doing Bunnie?" Sally asked.

"Just fine sugarcube, Doc said i'd be up in no time. Just have to wait for the stun ray effects to wear off."

Sally leaned against a wall, covering her face with her hands as she said "I really thought they would be on our side".

"I don't think that guy wanted to hurt us, I mean he just shot a stun ray, and then he shot some SWATBOTS to protect me." Tails replied.

"That brings up a good point Tails. No more going out on runs, it's too dangerous." Sally said sternly. "You could have been seriously hurt, or worse"

"Aw, cmon! Everybody else gets to! Why can't I?" Tails whined.

"Because we can't risk losing you. Now can you go check Rotor and Antoine for me?" Sally asked.

"Yes ma'am" Tails replied as he left the room with his shoulders slumped.

"Don't be so hard on him sweetheart. He just wants to help like everyone else." Bunnie said as she sat up, wincing as she did.

"I know." Sighed Sally. "I just don't want to lose him."

"I hear ya, but Tails brought up a good question. Why would they keep on stopping us from doing damage to Robotnik, but then turn around and get into fights with 'em?" Bunnie asked.

"Honestly, I don't know." Replied Sally as determination shone in her eyes. "But we need to hunt them down and find out why."

"You sure that's a good idea after what happened to Sonic? If he can do that to him, he could do something even worse to somebody else."

"If it stops them from attacking us then it's a risk we have to take."

Laying back down in the bed Bunnie gave Sally a smile. "Alright Sally girl I'm with ya, so whats the plan to catch these Mystery fellas?"

"Glad you asked." Sally said relieved that bunny agreed with her as she explained her plan. After talking it over with Bunnie. Sally called everyone in knothole to a meeting and explained why it had to be done and how they would do it. After convincing everyone that the plan would work. The Freedom Fighters started prepping everything and everyone for the big operation.


	4. Chapter 3

**A/N: Finally! I finished chapter 3 :D ! And if any Characters are OOC plz let me know so I can fix it.**

 **Chapter: 3**

 **Time: 17:55 hours**

"They pay good he said! You'll love working for them he said!" Muttered a massive bulldog in a Mussian(Russian) accent as he trudged through pouring rain toward a motel. He was tired, soaked to the bone, and had hardly any rest. All because of the incident with Sonic weeks ago. After that Princess Sally had ordered that almost all KFF fighters find who was behind the attacks. Of course him and several mercenaries questioned why they were dealing with it now suddenly, and with so much force. A few of his comrades even boldly declared the only reason she wanted them to deal with it now, was because they had injured Sonic, her boyfriend. After that, they each received a deadly glare from Sally as she got into a heated argument with them. The bulldogs ears were still ringing from that squirrels voice.

"Last time I trust Nack to find me a job." Walking past several rooms he stopped at one with the numbers peeled off it. And the numbers 6-03-28-04 chalked on it. Banging hard twice on it, he heard someone move around inside.

"The gun is unloaded." The Bulldog said into the door.

"And the safety is on my friend." A voice replied from inside. Twisting the knob he opened the door and slammed it shut behind him. Quickly turning around the bulldog pointed his laser rifle at a purple and white Weasel sitting by a table in the middle of the room. Wearing a brown fedora, and a jagged tooth sticking out of his mouth.

"Alright Nack, say the client's safety word so I know you're not backstabbing me." he growled.

Setting his pistol on the table the Weasel known as Nack smiled as he said. "You don't trust me Blackjack?"

"Trust a son of a motherless goat like you? Ha! Like that would ever happen." Retorted the Bulldog named Blackjack as he aimed at Nack's head. "Say it before I blow your head off."

"Lasers are red, they will hurt you, get out of here, before I shoot you." The Weasel quickly said.

"What does he need done this time?" Blackjack asked while slightly lowering his gun.

"Same thing as last time, he also said that he would pay both of us handsomely." Replied Nack as he grabbed his pistol off the table and holstered it.

"He must be paying you well if you're not going to backstab him." Stated the bulldog. Which was true considering that Nack the weasel had a reputation for being one of the most greediest, self serving mercenaries out there. Willing to betray his clients for the right price. While Blackjack on the other hand went by a code of honor, and would rather die than betray those he worked for. Why were these two willing to work together? Because this specific client always delivered his payment, but mostly because he paid in gold.

"Your gold will be in a crate inside a bakery, the building will be marked with the usual symbol." Said Nack as he stood up. "That is all, have a nice day."

Turning around and going out the door, Blackjack muttered insults at the weasel as he went back to his pointless search in the rain. "Have nice day, I'll show him a nice day! Next time I see him I'll sock him right in the face!"

" _Blackjack."_

"WHAT!?" He yelled into his communicator.

" _Everything ok?"_ Asked Sally.

"Oh everything's just great! I just love searching for days in the pouring rain, to find someone that's extremely dangerous and could kill me." Blackjack answered sarcastically as the princess let out a tired sigh.

" _I know i've been asking a lot of everyone lately, but we need to stop these attacks from happening. Your men are already heading back to Knothole and they won't listen to me, so could you get them to search for just one more day. Please?"_

Apparently his comrades were finally fed up with searching for nothing. Blackjack couldn't blame them, who wanted to search for a ghost? They couldn't even pick up any scent from places the Mystery group had been.

"If they don't want to play ghostbusters anymore, thats fine by me." He said "I'm about to quit searching myself-"

" _Blackjack, you need to get over here."_ Sally cut in.

"If your wanting me to try and find their scent I can't, I've got a cold from being out in the rain for too long." Said Blackjack while faking a sneeze.

" _No, I think there trying to to communicate with us."_ Replied Sally.

"What is the deal with you Freedom Fighters always looking for trouble." Groaned the Bulldog.

" _Just hurry over here. I'm southeast of you. "_ Sally said before turning off her com.

Over at Sallys location she was staring at what was In front of her, the words " _ **The deaths of many is upon your head."**_ written in red on a building. But what really caught her eye was what was under it, the same skull Symbol that was painted onto whatever they had raided.

Jogging up behind her. The Bulldog knelt to ground looking for tracks, sniffing as he did. "No tracks, no scent. I told you before these guys are like Ghosts." Blackjack muttered.

Raising up a device, Sally pointed it at the wall "Nicole, identify this emblem." Sally Asked.

" _Scanning...this is the emblem of the Phantom Battalion. A Special Operations unit of Mercenaries formed by the Acorn Kingdom during the Overlander War."_ A female voice stated

"Phantom Battalion? I've heard of them during the Overlander war. They were legends." Blackjack said.

"You think these mystery fellows are Phantom Fighters?" Sally asked.

"Na, can't be, That Battalion got wiped out during the war." Blackjack replied.

"Then why did they use this sign?" asked Sally.

"Scare tactic" Blackjack said as he looked over his shoulder. "And it's working let's go, There's nothing here." Blackjack said as he started walking. Sally turned to follow, then suddenly stopped.

 _'Did that rock just move?'_ She thought as she stared hard at a large boulder. Shaking her head Sally caught up with Blackjack. ' _I need to stop being so skittish'_ Sally thought. Meanwhile back at the boulder a black hedgehog was leaning against the rock. His armor blended perfectly with his surrounding, making him almost invisible. He watched as the two walked away.

"Smart girl, just like her father." Mortifer said under his breath.

"Alright I'm heading in." Blackjack said.

"I'll see you late-"

Sally stopped and turned around to see Blackjack being choked by nothing, then suddenly float off the ground. As an armored person come out of the shadows behind him with one arm outstretched. Quickly yanking her sidearm out Sally fired repeatedly and started taking steps back as he threw Blackjack to the side, And walked towards her.

"The blood of many is upon your head!" Mortifer bellowed as the lasers deflected off his armor. Sally panicked as her back hit a wall. She was trapped! Pulling the trigger as fast as she could Sally started yelling into her communicator.

"This is Sally! I've made contact! I repeat I've made contact and need immediate assistance!"

"This is sniper Alpha. What are your coordinates?" a voice responded over the radio.

"Sector A15, target is in Black armor!" Sally replied as Mortifer got closer and closer to her.

Inside an old bell tower in the distance, the sniper zoomed in on Mortifer's head and fired. Sally stopped firing and watched as the shot came from the tower and hit him directly in the head, doing nothing to him. He stopped, then turned and watched as the sniper fired a several more shots. But each one that hit had no effect on Mortifer.

"Target is taking no damage! I repeat target is taking no damage!" Frantically said Alpha as he kept firing.

Pointing at the tower, Mortifer clenched his fist. And Sally was forced to helplessly watch as the tower the sniper was in, exploded.

"No!" She cried out. Sally tried charging him, but no matter how hard she tried she couldn't move at all. Roughly picking up Sally by the throat, he brought her face to face with him. 'This is it, he's going to kill me.' Thought Sally as Mortifer drew his knife. Closing her eyes Sally waited for the searing pain of the energized blade across her throat,but it never came. Slowly peeking one eye open Sally found herself being held in the air by nothing.

Suddenly, the grip on her throat released. And Sally fell to the ground coughing as her lungs were filled with sweet oxygen. Shakily getting up on her feet Sally sadly looked up at the tower Alpha had been in. Dropships had already landed Swatbots there and if Alpha's body was still there, then the Swatbots had already taken it. Sally then looked at where her attacker was, but he was gone.

Running the best she could Sally went to Blackjack and made sure he was still breathing.

"Blackjack, Wake up we have to go!" she said. Receiving no reply from the bulldog. Sally reared back and slapped him as hard as she could.

"Son of a Motherless-" Blackjack started to say as he sat up but stopped as he saw Sally staring at him with a frown on her face. "Gun?" He finished innocently.

"We have to go." Sally told him.

"What about the sniper?" Asked Blackjack.

"He's dead." Replied Sally sadly as she started running.

"I can't feel my jaw." the bulldog complained while following behind her.

After running nonstop for an hour or two(but also taking a few breathers here and there) and zigzagging their way through Robotropolis to make sure they weren't being followed. They arrived at Blackjacks safe house.

"So I'm guessing your going to head back to Knothole?" Asked Blackjack as he went to the front door and opened it.

"Yes, and I'm going to call off the search." Sally sighed in defeat.

"Finally you listen to my advice!" Blackjack said while leaning on the doorpost. "It took a life and a near death experience but eh, at least you listened."

"Because it seems like they know our every move, fall back positions, supply caches, and even safe house locations!" Said Sally as she paced back and forth.

"Do you think they have someone on the inside working for them?" He suggested.

"Maybe." Agreed Sally.

"Don't you worry, If there's a traitor me and my boys will find him." Stated the Mussian as he cracked his knuckles.

"Thanks, I better get on back to Knothole and let them know I got someone killed." Sally said and almost bursted into tears

"It wasn't your fault." He comforted

"That's what everyone keeps telling me every time someone dies following my orders, and I never can believe it wasn't my fault. They don't understand what it's like to have to tell children everyday that their father isn't ever coming back and It was my order that killed him." Wiping a lone tear with her arm she tried to compose herself "Sorry, I should be heading back right now. Besides their my problems not yours." Sally started jogging again with slumped shoulders and trying her best not to cry in front of the battle hardened Mercenary.

Waiting till she was out of sight. Blackjack let out a sigh turned around and shut the door. Then walked towards the cot in his bedroom for a long, well deserved nap.

"Good job."

"AH!"

Yanking up his gun Blackjack fired a burst in the direction of the voice. And regretted doing so, for standing there with his arms crossed was Mortifer with bullet holes all around him.

"Sorry about that boss." Apologized Blackjack. "Didn't expect you to be here."

"I wanted to reward you for always completing your job. And your loyalty over the years, so instead of being paid one crate." Mortifer motioned beside him with one arm. "You are getting two, crates of gold."

Quickly going to the crates Blackjack couldn't resist smiling as he flung the crate open and scooped an armful of gold bars up. After a few seconds of holding them and filling his nostrils with the scent of pure gold bars. He sat them back down in the crate as if there were the most fragile things on Mobius.

"When you're done slobbering on the gold, I need the map with their defense and supply locations." Mortifer said as he pulled his pistol out and pointed it at Blackjack.

The Bulldog raised his arms up and let Mortifer grab the map from one of his pouches.

"If anyone ever finds out, I'll tell them you had me at gunpoint." He chuckled.

Mortifer nodded as he holstered the pistol.

"So what did you have to pay that no good weasel to act as the sniper and detonate the explosives in the tower, and without backstabbing you?"

"He needed a rare part to fix his bike, I believe he calls it "The Marvelous Queen.". Apparently one of his jobs didn't end to well." Replied Mortifer. Looking at the map he memorized the locations that had been circled with a marker, just in case something happened to it. "Still not able to tell me where Knothole is?" He asked.

"Sorry boss, that's the only thing I can't show you without breaking my contract. But as you already know, it never said that about everything else." Said Blackjack as him and Mortifer shook hands. "And...sorry for talking about them. I know it's something you would rather forget." Blackjack said and broke eye contact with Mortifer as he stared at the floor.

"You were doing you job, you didn't do anything wrong." Though his face and tone never changed. Blackjack knew if he looked up into Mortifers eyes, he would see the rage and pain that he had been keeping inside for years. "Goodbye." Mortifer said as he walked past him and out the door.

"See you later boss."

* * *

After returning back to HQ, Mortifer had Woodstock go with him and help raid most of the caches before turning in for the night. More specifically Woodstock would fall asleep before his head hit the pillow. And Mortifer stayed up late, like every night to do things he believed were more important than sleep.

The sound of chains rattling echoed off the ship's walls as a punching bag was rapidly hit. Mortifer had been at it nonstop for around an hour or two. His body was covered in sweat, his arms and hands were burning with pain. But Mortifer continued to beat the bag in anger as his mind replayed the same memory that had been haunting him everyday for six years.

The cries of dying soldiers echoed in his ears, he gritted his teeth as the flashback started. He saw it all over again.

 _rivers of red, dead body's covered the ground, the roar of gunfire was heard everywhere._

Slowly Mortifer began to hit harder as the flashback continued.

 _Soldiers were slaughtered as they charged the enemy defenses without fear._

His fist became a blur as he poured his rage into the bag.

 _An echidna, beside him was blown into the air as an artillery shell hit._

Mortifer suddenly snapped, and roared in rage as he spun around and punched the wall creating a deep indention it. 'I'm not the weak soldier I was back then. I'm not the weak soldier I was back then.' Mortifer repeated in his head while breathing heavily and recollecting his emotions. Pulling his fist out of the wall, Mortifer closed his eyes. 'I won't fail Woodstock like I failed Elias'

 **A/N: Blackjack is a character from the comics that was only used once, and since not much is known about his past I think that he fits into this quiet nicely. And as always constructive criticism is greatly appreciated along with suggestions. God bless!**


	5. Chapter 4

**A/N: Finally got this chapter done. Though I kinda got stuck on what to do near the end of it. My proofreader, GorrilaBub helped me out and wrote the last part of this chapter so many thx to him. As always constructive criticism is greatly appreciated and sadly I do not own The Sonic The Hedgehog Franchise(Mortifer is secretly breaking into Sega HQ currently to fix that problem). Hope you enjoy!**

 **Time: Unknown**

 **Location: Unknown**

Darkness, roaring of an engine, that's all a young rabbit had heard since waking up with a painful headache. She didn't know where she was, it was too dark to see. After feeling around for a way out all she had found out was that it was some kind of big metal box full of pointed metal things connected together. Giving up the tired girl had curled up against the wall of whatever she was trapped in, and cried. Wishing for her mother's warm embrace and soothing words. For how long? She didn't know. What the poor girl did know was how she got here...

 _*FLASHBACK*_

 _A small six year old lop-eared rabbit with cream fur and brown eyes, light orange and brown markings around her eyes, on her head and at the ends of her ears. And wearing a simple red/orange dress with white gloves and orange and yellow shoes. Was outside happily playing with her choa doll. She was having great day, her mother was cooking her favorite meal, Amy her best friend was coming over. Even the weather was perfect._

" _Well, well, If it isn't little crybaby Cream." Someone sneered behind her._

 _Turning around Cream the Rabbit saw the last beings she would want to see, besides Dr. Robotnik. Three large teenage shirtless Rats wearing biker pants._

" _It's not nice to call people names." Said Cream._

" _Yeah? Well I don't care!" He replied. And before Cream knew it, her doll was yanked out of her hands by one of them that had come up behind her._

" _Dolls are for babies, and since this is your doll I guess that makes you a big baby, doesn't it?" Having the advantage of height the bully raised it out of Creams reach while the three of them kept calling Cream baby and mocking her. This wasn't the first time these Rats had bullied her, or other kids. These rats were triplets and had a reputation for bullying and beating on kids smaller than them. Punishment was no big deal for the three, they just continued to bully. Even after getting chewed out by Knotholes hero, Sonic, in front of everyone,they continued to bully anyone who's wasn't being watched by adults._

 _Tiring of their teasing and not giving her doll back Cream turned and ran towards her house to tell her mother._

" _Quick! Stop her before she tells Amy!" One of them yelled._

 _Trying her best to outrun the faster teens, Cream failed to notice several rocks sticking out of the ground and tripped. Sending her face first into the ground. Then everything went black._

 _*END FLASHBACK*_

 **Time: 9:36**

 **Location: Outskirts of Robotropolis**

"Yo Bob, Think our boys can hold out till we get there?" Asked a short, stocky black and white chihuahua, wearing blue jeans, a brown leather jacket, and brown eyes the size of his head that were covered with sunglasses. While leaning against a heavy LMG that was mounted to the helicopter he was riding in.

"The last time we heard from them they were taking heavy casualties and being overrunned. Only way to know is if there still kicking when we get there ,Bugeyes." replied a gunner over the radio from the other helicopter flying beside them.

"They better be alive and kicking! I had to skip mealtime to come out here! And on taco tuesday! People have no respect for holidays anymore!"

Bugeyes the chihuahua, was a gunner for the KAF(Knothole Air Force) extraction team, and a good one at that. Having survived six chopper crashes. Half of them from fighting in the Dragon kingdom campaign, the other half was mostly from extraction missions for the Robotropolis campaign. Surprisingly after making it back on foot from each crash he would get patched up, find a crew that was going on a mission and literally kick the gunner out and take his place. When asked why he was so eager to get back into action he would remark that if any gunner was going to die fighting Robotnik, it would be the best gunner. And was usually calm in every situation they got into, usually. But loved to run his mouth and listen in on things he wasn't supposed too.

"Hey, you hear about what happened to Sally?" Asked Bob

"No what happened?"

"Word is that she got into a fight with one of _them_."

The chihuahua let out a low whistle as he said. "So, did he brand Sally and read her mind?" "What?" A perplexed Bob said back "No! Who told you that they do that?"

"No one really, just some rumors I heard recently." Replied Bugeyes. "What really happened then?"

"I'm not really sure but one of the communications guys said that her, Blackjack, and a sniper shot at him but his armor seemed impenetrable." said Bob

"Any of them get hurt?" asked Bugeyes

"Don't think so. When I saw Sally and Blackjack a couple of days ago they didn't seem to have any wounds, haven't heard anything about the sniper though." Bob replied thoughtfully.

Both choppers let out a loud beep through everyone's headset to let them know they had arrived at their destination. Simultaneously, Bob and Bugeyes slid open their helicopters heavy doors then started scanning the ground for survivors.

"There." Following where Bugeyes was pointing Bob's eyes landed on a small group of soldiers dug in and desperately trying to fight off an army of Swatbots. Upon seeing the extraction zone both pilots swerved the choppers opposite directions while the gunners opened fire hitting most of the bots directly in front of the barricade.

"What took you so darn long!?" A weary soldier said over the coms.

"Hey man don't look at me, I'm not the one flying these things." Bugeyes answered as he was mowing down the rest of the Swatbots. Suddenly he stopped firing and let out a yelp as a laser found its mark, hitting Bugeyes right in the shoulder.

"Bugeyes! You alright!?" Bob asked with worry.

"Don't you worry none, it's just a flesh wound. Looks like we got incoming dropships." Replied Bugeyes calmly as he grabbed the gun with one arm and started firing at the dropships as they deployed more robots. While the pilot tried his best to dodge the laser fire from the swatbots and dropships. "Bob, you get our boys outta here while I cover you."

"Roger that, disengaging." Quickly flying to the barricade the helicopter hovered over it while Bob stopped firing and started getting the men on board.

Watching from a safe distance was Mortifer leaning against some rubble while Woodstock was sitting on the ground, gobbling down a bag of popcorn.

"Why are we here? I mean it's not that the show is bad or anything but, usually you don't take a break." questioned Woodstock while stuffing his mouth full of popcorn.

"Because currently our supply caches are filled to the brim and we don't need anything. So we might as well wait for a plane to crash to collect pieces that you could use to make things." Mortifer replied as he watched the battle and listened in on their communications. "Strange, The gunner covering the evac chopper quit firing." Mortifer said in thought

"Maybe he ran out of bullets?" Suggested Woodstock while dumping the rest of the popcorn into his mouth.

"Highly unlikely." Replied Mortifer.

Back at the chopper, Bugeyes was banging on his gun and yanking on the bullet belt.

"What's wrong!?" yelled his pilot.

"It's jammed!" Bugeyes yelled back.

"Then unjam it! We won't last out here without that gun!"

"You don't think I know that!?" He remarked flinging the hatch to the ammo box open, but was suddenly knocked onto his back by a little girl as she clung to his chest and sobbed. "How'd she get in the ammo box!?" Bugeyes asked while trying to pry the girl off him.

"Whaddya mean "She"!?" The pilot frantically yelled as he barely dodged a barrage of lasers.

"There's a kid back here! Call it in!" Finally prying her off him. Bugeyes began trying to talk to her as the pilot started radioing HQ.

"Listen! Listen to me!" He said finally getting her attention. "I know that it was scary for you being alone in that box. But right now were in a very bad situation, and that box is the safest place you can be right now. As soon as this is over and we start heading back to Knothole I promise I'll let you out, alright?" Not sure if she was nodding or if it was from the plane swerving everywhere Bugeyes quickly lowered her back down into the box while also finding a piece of the girls clothing caught in the bullet belt. Reassuring the sobbing girl he would get her back to her mother and pulling the cloth out of the belt. Bugeyes slammed the hatch shut and went back to manning the gun.

"There's a girl on board." stated Mortifer as he listened to a pilot running on about it to his command. "Woodstock when you were doing radio duty did the KFF say anything about a girl missing?" He asked Woodstock.

"Nope. All they talked about was cream, and without the cheese! I mean seriously who eats cream cheese without the cheese! Or crackers!" Woodstock said throwing the popcorn bag away. "Oooh, they're in trouble." Woodstock stated casually as he propped his feet up.

Bob let out a hurrah as the last of them got on board and the helicopter took off.

"Congratulations boys! Looks like everyone is gonna make it home in one piece." Bugeyes said to everyone as his chopper followed behind Bob's. As everyone started celebrating, a missile suddenly flew out of no where and hit the helicopter in front of Bugeyes. Blowing it to pieces and incinerating Bob, and everyone they had just saved.

The helicopter shook violently as one of Robotnik's stealth jets flew by and started heading back towards them.

"Crap! Crap! Crap! Fly between the buildings! Fly between the buildings!" He ordered the pilot, and let loose with his gun in vain to slow the jet down as it started flying straight towards them. The jets guns fired a short burst as it blew past its target shredding the cockpit and killing the pilot, causing the helicopter to spiral out of control.

Unlatching the ammo box again as quick as he could with one arm. Bugeyes jumped inside it and latched several locks on it. Then finding where the girl was sitting he hugged her.

"Looks like I'm going to need a rain check on that promise kid."

Mortifer watched as it went down, then took off towards it when he heard it crash and explode. Woodstock however, was still leaned back relaxing.

"Woodstock." said Mortifer through his communicator.

"Yes?"

"Crashed plane, now."

"Coming Mort!" Woodstock replied and picked up his minigun as he took off towards the crash site.

Upon arriving there, Mortifer began checking the ground for tracks left by any survivors with his telekinesis, which he highly doubted there were any. But still, he knew it was better to check just incase.

"So many shiny useful scrap pieces!" Exclaimed Woodstock while skidding to a halt and grabbing as many pieces that he could hold.

"Quiet, there's survivors!" Mortifer ordered as he drew one pistol and started walking towards a large metal box that had skidded across the ground upon impact.

"Say wha?" Woodstock said trying his best to see past the pile of junk in his arms.

"There's only one body not three. And since they didn't leave any footprints the only way to survive a crash like that, would be this box." Feeling inside the box with telekinesis, Mortifer sensed two people inside. An adult which he figured was the gunner that was still conscious, and a small girl that wasn't moving much. Suddenly several clicks were heard from the box before the lid flew open and a chihuahua popped out.

"I'm aliv-!"

Unfortunately for him, Mortifer beamed him right between the eyes, then grabbed the dog and tossed him over to Woodstock. Looking down at the fellow on the ground. Woodstock cocked his head as he commented "I thought Jacks were supposed pop out of boxes, not chihuahuas. Heck, things aren't like they used to be" And dumped the metal he was carrying on top of the Chihuahua.

"Why did you dump the metal we need on top of him?" Questioned Mortifer

"Because he needed somewhere to hide from the Swatbots." Woodstock answered

"I don't have time for this." Muttered Mortifer. Upon Looking inside to get the girl out Mortifer froze up and stared in disbelief at something.

"Mort? Mort are you okay?" Puzzled by his behavior Woodstock walked towards him, and heard Mortifer say the same thing the KFF had been saying all morning.

"Cream?"

"With the cheese! Why is everyone forgetting the freakin cheese?!" He quickly stopped his rambling upon seeing Mortifer gently lift a child out of the box and cradle her against his chest.

"Her head is bleeding, we need to get back to HQ to give her some anesthetics." He stated while pulling out some medical tape and wrapping Cream's head.

"Dude, you must've eaten something bad, cause you're never nice, or gentle, to anybody." said Woodstock. Ignoring him, Mortifer yanked Woodstock behind the container. Opening his mouth to say something. Woodstock was silenced by Mortifer.

"When I say now, raise your right arm ninety degrees."

"Okay." replied Woodstock while Mortifer seemed to be focusing on something.

"Now!"

Quickly raising his arm at exactly ninety degrees Woodstock was jerked forward as something extremely fast slammed into his arm bending it backwards and spinning Woodstock completely around.

"AH HECK THAT HURT!" He yelled in pain and dropped the minigun as he fell to his knees.

"Woodstock you don't feel pain." sighed Mortifer.

"Ooooh, right." As he stood back up and bent his arm back into place. Woodstock went to pick his minigun back up but found out, most of his fingers weren't cooperating except for the trigger finger. After failing to pick it up, Woodstock stuck his arm under the handle and bent his arm around it several times but making sure he could still shoot. "There!" He said triumphantly and raised the minigun up with his broken arm.

"You know you could have used your other arm Woodstock." said Mortifer as he used his telekinesis to put Sonic in the box and close the lid.

"Yeah, I probably should have done that." replied Woodstock as he looked at Mortifer, or at least where he was standing a few moments ago.

"Mort? Yo Mort, where'd ya go?" he received no answer. "Now that's just creepy." Woodstock's ear suddenly twitched as he heard the sound of something cut through metal behind him. Turning around Woodstock watched as a small round robot with a large camera on it uncloaked and crashed into the ground, with Morts double bladed knife protruding out of it.

Stepping out of the shadows Mortifer pulled his knife out of the bot as it projected a hologram of a large Overlander, with a bald head, dark orange mustache, black eyes with crimson irises, and wearing a sleeveless, red jumpsuit with yellow lines spanning up, down and around his body, wide shoulder pads, and a yellow cape with gray boots.

"Ah, Mortifer, so nice to see you again." Robotnik said smiling maliciously. "It's been quite awhile since we've spoke, a year to be precise."

"Julian." Mortifer greeted in a cold tone. "If you're wondering who's been destroying your factories lately it was the Rebels"

"Oh, I know." Replied Robotnik while drumming his fingers together. "You and your partner are far more resourceful than those pathetic Rebels."

Suddenly stepping in front of Mortifer and the camera Woodstock waved at Robotnik and said "Hi fat guy! Nice to see you again!"

Scowling Robotnik remarked. "I see he still hasn't lost his stupidity."

"No, he hasn't." Mortifer replied while shoving Woodstock out of Robotnik's view.

"My offer still stands. I could give you everything, power, money, an army. All you have to do is swear your allegiance to me."

"And the answer is still no, for now." Mortifer said then smashed the bot with his boot.

"Where'd the girl go?" Asked Woodstock. Pointing behind him Woodstock saw Cream being held on Mortifer"s back by his telekinesis.

"If Julian finds out about the girl he'll try to get her so he can blackmail us."

"But I thought that you don't care what Robotnik does with hostages?" questioned Woodstock.

"I don't, but this girl is to be protected. Even if it takes our lives doing so." Mortifer replied as him and Woodstock went back to back as two Dropships flew over their position. One of the ships dropped a couple dozen swatbots, the other dropped two large bots. That stood twelve feet high and were just as broad, each carrying a massive flamethrowers on each arm.

The army of bots surrounded the two hedgehogs. Woodstock grinned as he cranked his mini gun, letting the barrel's spin. Mortifer eyes narrowed as he scanned the terrain around them looking for any advantage, but there was none.

"Woodstock, put the kid back into the container." Mortifer said in a low tone.

Woodstock took the child and placed her gently into crate. Shutting the door and latching it, he then turned and gave Mort a thumbs up. Suddenly Woodstock was engulfed by flames. One of the the Flamebots had moved in on him while he was distracted. Mortifer let out a yell as he fired both his guns, sending a hail of bullets into the Bot. The Flamebot staggered back as a swarm of swatbots began to fire and advance toward Mortifer. Suddenly dashing into their ranks, Mortifer began slashing and stabbing with his knives, moving so fast that he was a blur.

Suddenly Waking up, Bugeyes was puzzled as he noticed the a pile of metal on him and sat up, then quickly laid back down. In front of him was a army of swatbots fighting something. He couldn't tell what it was All he could see was a black blur dashing around, dropping bots like flies. Bugeyes looked up as several more dropships flew in and dropped off more bots. And watched at the battle raging in front of him.

He turned his head away as he saw two flamebots fire flames at the speedy attacker. He had seen what they did, it was a horrible way to go, he couldn't watch. But quickly looked back as he heard laughing. One of the Flamebots exploded while the second one turned and took a stance. Bugeyes couldn't believe his eyes. A large figure was walking toward the Flamebot, and he was on _fire_! The Flame bot fired, engulfing the figure in flames. But as it shot flames the burning figure jumped and hit the bot in the face with a large object on his arm, Knocking it's head clean off. As the Flamebot came crashing to the ground Bugeyes realized the figure was a hedgehog, a large one at that. His mouth dropped open as the Hedgehog pulled up a massive minigun that was attached to his arm and began to fire. Cutting downs bots like flies. The Hedgehog continued to laugh as some of bots began to shoot at him and the lasers hit him all over but bounced right off.

"Impossible!" muttered the Chihuahua. He watched as the Swatbots were turned into piecemeal by the minigun Hedgehog and the black blur. In a few minutes every single robot was destroyed. The chihuahua stayed completely still as the minigun ladden hedgehog stopped shooting. And another Hedgehog walked over to the large one, this one was smaller and black. Bugeyes held his breath as the two walked toward him.

"Well,that was a fun exercise. Is it over already?" asked Woodstock as he raised his gun and blew the smoke from the barrels, which were glowing red.

"I'll get the kid, call our ship we need to get back to HQ ASAP." Mortifer ordered.

Woodstock stopped and looked at Mortifer with a blank expression as he pushed a button on his forearm.

"Dude, are you sick or something? You're all worried about this kid. You never worry about anything!" he said. Mortifer looked to the sky as a plane uncloaked and landed.

"Just get in the ship." he said as he picked Cream up then dashed over to the plane and ran inside. Woodstock shook his head as he walked into the ship then went up to the cockpit. And Sat down in the copilot seat next to Mortifer as he said.

"Morty, you got to explain to me why you're so concerned about that kid back there. I wanna make sure I'm not dreaming, cause I do that alot." Mortifer just muttered under his breath as the plane cloaked and took off.

Once the ship was gone Bugeyes jumped out of the pile of metal in shock at what he just saw. And quickly began to make his way back to Knothole.

"I need to inform command!" he thought aloud to himself. He just hoped that kid the hedgehogs took was okay. Who knows what they're planning to do to her.

 **A/N: There, Cream is finally in this story. But has anyone else noticed shes been in the comics for years. Yet Creams still six years old?**


	6. Chapter 5

**A/N: Finally done with chapter 5! Took me awhile but eh, at least it's finished and posted. Now on with the story!(You are reading this right reader? No? Didn't think so O_- . ) Many thanks to my proofreader GorillaBub for helping me. And I do not own SEGA or the Sonic The Hedgehog franchise...yet.**

Woodstock was confused, and surprised as he stared at the rabbit that Mortifer had brought in and put on his bed. Slowly extending his arm Woodstock went to poke it.

"Woodstock." but was stopped by Mortifer's telekinesis. "Do not disturb her." Mortifer said while Woodstock rubbed his chin in thought and looked at Mortifer who was holding her hand in his which was, odd. Especially since Mortifer stayed up all night without any sleep to change her bandage and kept a constant watch over her. While he had to relocate their ship to make sure Robotnik couldn't find them.

"I don't get it. How is she a rabbit, made out of cream, without the cheese? Seriously how is it possible to do it without the cheese?" Woodstock questioned as he tried to poke her again.

"Woodstock! For the last time her name is Cream and she's not made out of cream cheese." Said Mortifer in an annoyed tone.

"Ya sure? Could I just get a little nibble, just to make sure?"

"No."

"Fine, so why are we taking care of her instead of you know, dumping her in a random dumpster? You're treating her like she's the one of the rarest things in the world!"

"She is." Mortifer quietly said as Cream began to stir. Slowly her eyes fluttered open, and as the blur in Cream's vision faded she saw someone that her mother had thought to be dead.

"Uncle Mort?" Woodstock's jaw literally dropped and hit the floor. Picking it back up and reattaching it he could've swore that he heard Mortifer"s mouth make a cracking noise from frowning all the time as he smiled at Cream.

"DUDE! You're an uncle and you never told me!?" Surprised by Woodstock. Cream quickly turned her head and looked at him with a puzzled expression.

"Uncle Woodstock?" now Woodstock was extremely confused.

"DUDE! I'm an uncle and I never told you!? Wait, that's not right. Ok I'm totally confused here."

Mortifer roughly replied "Shut up Woodstock."

"Ok, I'll just be over here working on my arm." Woodstock said as he left the room Muttering "I'm a freakin uncle to somebody made of cream with no cheese. What has this crazy world come to!" He continued muttering until he was out of earshot.

Meanwhile Mortifer knelt beside the bed. "How you feeling Cream?" Mortifer asked.

"My head hurts, but I'm ok thank you." Cream sat up and looked around. "Where am I" she asked.

Mortifer stood up, crossing his arms and replied "This is where me and Uncle Woodstock live." Cream stared wide eyed at the room. The room was very neat, having few items. Mostly a variety of weapons, a tattered banner covered in, red stuff, and several maps on the walls.

"My mom told me you got trapped in the city after saving her and me but never made it out, how did all of you escape?" Cream asked.

Mortifer closed his eyes and sighed. "Some of us escaped." he replied as he turned his head and stared at the tattered banner. Mortifer was silent for a moment, deep in thought. Suddenly there was a loud clatter in the next room.

"I'm ok!" Hollered Woodstock. "Just working on my arm! No worries!"

Mortifer just shook his head.

"Where is my mother?" Cream asked. Looking worried.

"I'm not sure, we found you in plane crash. How did you end up in a plane?" Mortifer asked.

Cream looked down as she replied "I don't know, some kids were being mean to me. All I remember is I was running, then I fell, I don't remember much after that." walking out of the room for a second, Mortifer returned with cup and a plate of food.

"Well me and Uncle Woodstock are gonna get you back to your mother. I promise." Mortifer said.

"Pinkie promise?" Cream asked.

"Pinkie promise." Mortifer replied as he touched Creams pinkie with his. "But you need to eat first. Here's some food and water." he said as he placed the plate and cup on the bed next to Cream. "Thank you." She said as she picked the plate up. Taking a bite of the mush, Cream made a sour face, then she swallowed it.

"What is this?" Cream asked politely.

Mortifer grimaced, then answered "MRE, it's a mix of a lot of stuff. Sorry it doesn't taste good. But it's all we have"

"It's ok, it's not that bad." Cream said as she took another bite, and made another face.

Mortifer chuckled. "You are just as polite as your mother. She taught you well." He said as he patted Cream on the head. "You finish you food while I go talk to Uncle Woodstock for a minute" Then walked to the door. "I'll be right back" Mortifer said as he left the room.

Entering into a Woodstock's room full of various pieces of metal and robots. Mortifer made his way over to Woodstock who was moving his arm in circles, the same arm he hit Sonic with, and had bent back into place.

Upon seeing Mortifer, Woodstock grabbed his minigun and pointed it at him.

"Stay back you Morty clone thingy! I know you're not the real Mortifer!" Woodstock said as he pointed his gun at Mortifer.

Calmly looking at Woodstock, Mortifer said "Numquam obliviscar. _"_

Woodstock immediately lowered his weapon as he replied " _f_ _ratres mei ceciderunt."_ and mumbled "Sorry Morty, I coulda swore you wasn't you. But only the real you would know our passcode."

"I need you to watch Cream." Stated Mortifer as he crossed his arms.

"Why do I have to babysit?"

"Because I'm going to Blackjack so he can take Cream back to her Mother. All you have to do is keep her safe " Replied Mortifer while Woodstock let out a groan.

"Fine." setting his tools down, Woodstock walked past him and towards Mortifer's room. While Mortifer pushed a button on his wrist pad opening the plane door as he took off towards the safehouse.

Letting out a groan while watching the doors close Woodstock walked into Mortifer's room to see Cream had finished eating and was patiently waiting their return.

"I'm Sooo bored." he sighed and began banging his head on the wall.

"Uncle Woodstock?"

"Yes?"

"We could play a game if you want to." Cream suggested. Staring blankly at her for a moment Woodstock suddenly grinned from ear to ear.

"Sure! I know the perfect game to play." He said. As he handed Cream a gun.

* * *

Anger, that's the only emotion Mortifer felt as he ran to Blackjacks hideout. Anger towards the kids who done this to her. Anger for the adults allowing something like this to happen to an innocent girl like Cream. But mostly anger towards himself, for not watching over Cream for the past six, almost seven years. He never forgot how he lost her and Vanilla long ago.

 _ *****_ _FLASHBACK* 6 ½ years ago._

 _Everywhere explosions and laser rounds were going off as a hundred thousands of civilians ran in blind panic. Warlord Julian, their most trusted official, had betrayed them. Now that the Acorn kingdom had disposed of all their weapons his Swatbots were rounding everyone up and killing any that tried to resist. Dropping them like flies because almost no one had the proper weaponry and the military had been dismantled after the bloody war with the Overlander. Leaving the city, and everyone in it defenseless._

" _Woodstock do you read!?" Yelled an injured Mortifer while wall running across the side of buildings and trying his best to dodge the laser fire from hundreds of Swatbots. As he used his body like a shield to keep the lasers from hitting a baby rabbit that he was carrying in one arm._

 _"These Protecting bots suck at there job!" Crackled Woodstock' barely audible voice over the gunfire and screams on the communicator._

" _Is Vanilla safe in our house?" Mortifer asked and leaped onto the rooftops._

" _Yep, I think she's hungry though. She seems worried over Cream cheese."_

" _Just make sure you don't open the door for anyone except me, Blackjack, and anyone else from the Phantom-" Before he could finish his sentence. A jet quickly flew over and let loose with its minigun as Mortifer done a barrel roll, dodging most of the lasers. Coming out of the roll in a dead run Mortifer felt more burning pain over most of his already injured body. But continued to press on knowing if he died, so would the child._

" _I'm a hundred meters out. Get ready to open the second story window!" in the distance Mortifer saw the window open and Woodstock give a thumbs up. Nearing the roofs end Mortifer went as fast as he could and jumped straight for it. But right before he made it inside, a Sniperbot fired. Hitting Mortifer's leg as he flew through the window and crashed through several walls inside the house._

" _Mortifer!" A creamish orange and white female rabbit, with a purple red dress yelled and ran over to where Mortifer was on the floor._

" _Are you alright!?"_

 _Mortifer moved his arm showing the rabbit her baby was safe, and untouched in his arms._

" _Safe like I promised you, Vanilla." Mortifer grunted as his helmet retracted and he stood up the best he could with an injured leg, and body._

" _Cream! Thank you! Thank you!" Vanilla cried in joy as she scooped up her sleeping child and hugged her._

" _She slept through the ride?" Asked a puzzled Blackjack._

" _Surprisingly, yes." answered Mortifer while limping over to Woodstock who was looking out the window. "Woodstock, what's it like out there?" he questioned._

" _Oh the usual, people screaming, getting shot and carried off. End of the world type of stuff." replied Woodstock._

 _Leaning against the side of the window Mortifer looked out and watched the chaos below._

" _I thought the war was over and all that?" asked Woodstock as he peeked back out the window and let out a whistle. "Doesn't look like it out there."_

 _"Boss, I don't know if we can make it out." Blackjack said as he loaded and checked his gun. "If Julians as smart as you say he is, then he knows every escape route in this city."_

 _"I don't mean to interrupt. But is King Nigel alive?" Vanilla asked quietly while rocking Cream back and forth._

 _"Nigel retreated Into his palace along with the royal guards." Mortifer said and leaned against the wall._

 _"Is there anyway we could bring him to safety with us?"_

 _Sensing the argument that was about to begin. Blackjack and Woodstock tiptoed past the two and down the stairway._

 _"You want to bring that filthy, dishonorable, no good backstabber with us!?" hissed Mortifer angrily. "I lost everything because of him! And you want me to help him!? Look outside! Everything that is happening right now, is because of him!"_

" _I lost my husband too." she whispered back causing Mortifer to fall silent. Letting out a sad sigh Vanilla looked at her child. "He may have made several mistakes, but everyone makes mistakes. But everyone deserves a second chance, and when a resistance rises up they'll need someone like him to give everyone hope, courage, and something to believe in during this war against Julian."_

 _pinching the bridge of his nose Mortifer limped towards the stairs._ " _Fine. I'll do it! But after this, he can pay for his own mistakes."_

" _Thank you, and be safe."_

 _Coming to the bottom of the stairs Mortifer heard several loud bangs coming from the door while Blackjack and Woodstock had their guns pointed at it._

 _"Clear the door." He ordered the two and got into a running position._

 _Outside two Swatbots had been kicking and blasting the door for a while but it still had sustained no damage. After recomputing countless times they finally resorted to using one of their own as a battering ram, and still couldn't get in._

" _ON THREE, ONE, TWO, THREE." rearing back to hit the door again both robots froze as the door swung open to reveal a minigun as it fired, blowing them to pieces._

" _Clear Mort!" Woodstock yelled._

 _Nodding to both of them Mortifer said_ " _I'll either see you in five minutes, or on the other side." and took off down the streets again. "The other side of me? Or the other side of you?" Asked Woodstock as Blackjack finished locking the door back._

" _Eh, don't worry about it Woodstock."_

 _As Mortifer ran he was beginning to suspect that Julian knew exactly where he was trying to go and why. Especially since he had two Egg carriers shooting at him from above with their artillery guns which was blowing entire blocks up. Along with hundreds of Swatbots trying to block his path to the palace. However, Mortifer knew he had to lose them and how._

 _Pulling several smoke grenades from his side and unholstering his pistol Mortifer threw them ahead of him, waited until they were perfectly lined up with each other, then fired one shot causing all of them to explode and creating a huge smokescreen. Upon seeing him disappear in the smoke the Swatbots on the ground and Egg carriers immediately focused their fire on it._

 _"CEASE FIRE." a Swatbot commander ordered as the smoke cleared revealing a crater from the gunfire, but no hedgehog._ " _COMMENCE SEARCH IN THE SURROUNDING AREA FOR TARGET."_

 _while they searched above, Mortifer stood silently in the sewers looking at where it had collapsed, and blocked the Swatbots from him. Glaring down at his wounded leg that was slowing him down Mortifer let out a sigh._

' _Theres only one way for me to move faster.' he thought._ _Getting a running start Mortifer gritted his teeth in pain as he used telekinesis, forcing his leg to stop limping then went at supersonic speed as if it had fully recovered._

 _Heading through the sewers toward the castle Mortifer knew exactly what routes to take and which ones to avoid as he blew past Swatbot units. He was taught every escape route in Mobotropolis until it was stuck in his head because Elias wanted Mortifer to be like him, to be prepared for anything._

' _What the king done to you won't go unpunished, I promise.'_ _Making the last turn he started slowing down as he was nearing the end where the secret door to the palace was._

 _Mortifer quickly looked behind him as a loud whistling noise suddenly echoed in the tunnels. And saw Julian's prized "Sonic Boom" Missile, known for surpassing speeds of any hedgehogs._

" _You've got to be kidding me!"_ _Speeding back up as the missile was catching up with him Mortifer was relieved to see the secret door ahead of him. Comparing the speed of himself and the missile Mortifer knew that at his current rate, there was no way he could outrun it. Wanting to keep his promise of protecting Vanilla and Cream, he grabbed both his legs with telekinesis and forced them to speed up faster._

 _"I'm so gonna kill Julian for this" Mortifer muttered. Then in one smooth motion flipped forward on his hands, using his momentum to boost himself through the small hole in the ceiling. Landing in a kneeling stance in the palace Mortifer quickly dropped a round metal ball, a device that jammed the signal. Then took off at full speed down the hall. A few seconds later the missile came through hole after him and suddenly veered sideways, blowing part of the palace up._

 _Glancing over his shoulder Mortifer began searching the palace with his telekinesis and walking around the ballroom._ ' _Mental note to self, stock up on Woodstock's missile jammers.'_ _Julian may be brilliant but thankfully for Mortifer, Woodstock was crazy enough to match him. 'Strange, no Swatbots.'_ _He began to concentrate to make sure the palace was clear but stopped when he felt someone above him and holstered his pistol._

" _Shēngcún." Mortifer said._ _As a black spider dropped from the ceiling clad in slim silver body armor and two katanas strapped to one side._

" _Mortifer." The spider said back respectfully._

" _So, you signed a contract with Julian?" Mortifer asked._

" _I assure you had I known of his plans before he hired me, I would never had worked for Julian." He replied sadly._

" _I know." Mortifer said and let out a sigh._ _He truly didn't want to fight the spider. Shēngcún was Elias's most trusted fighter and one of the best in their battalion. Plus Mortifer had saved his life during a battle, but shrapnel had damaged two of his four arms to the point where they had to amputate them. However Shēngcún didn't let that stop him and continued to serve alongside Mortifer. Seeing him as the only one worthy to lead the Phantom battalions after what happened to Elias. However, the Phantom code of honor stated that once a contract was made that it was not to be broken, no matter what the circumstances. Forcing the spider to fight against someone that he saw as family._

" _I apologize in advance for any pain I inflict upon you." He said as he drew both swords and threw one to Mortifer._

" _Likewise friend."_

 _both took a fighting stance, then charged at each other sending sparks everywhere as steel clashed against steel._

* * *

 _The gun was clean, Blackjack knew that. There wasn't a speck of dirt remaining after being cleaned from the inside out. Yet the Mussian continued to clean his weapon, It was his way of dealing with boredom. Looking up he shook his head at seeing Woodstock still asleep with Cream on the couch unworried by what was happening and that Mortifer was late._

" _We need to help those families out there." Vanilla said while sadly watching the chaos outside through a small hole in the metal window._

" _Boss said not too." Stated Blackjack nonchalantly._

" _Why? if you don't mind me asking." she asked._

 _Setting the rag down He leaned back in the chair and answered. "Because the Boss knows that if he save one family, he'll end up saving another, and another, and another. Then everyone starts seeing that he's taking others in so they just keep coming until there's no more room left. But even after there's no room they just keep coming and pretty soon, Boss's house is now packed with untrained strangers who don't know what to do. Robotnik then sees that, and sends his army of robots here."_

 _uncorking his canteen and taking a swig of water Blackjack let out a sigh as he leaned forward. "Then that's when things get bad. See this places walls are made of steel, but steel only last so long against lasers before it melt. And once laser melt through if they fire one, just one Anti-personal rocket, then boom! Everyone dies from concussion." Blackjack finished as he put the canteen on his lap and clasped his hands together. "So you see, Boss saves everyone by not saving everyone."_

" _I see." Vanilla said as she sat down in a rocking chair beside the couch. "Is it alright if I ask you another question?"_

" _Sure go ahead, we're going to be stuck here for awhile anyways." Blackjack said._

" _Why do you call Mortifer boss?" questioned Vanilla._

" _Because he's the Boss." seeing the confusion on the rabbit's face Blackjack continued. "It's also so us mercenaries don't get too close like brothers. None of us friends, just trusted associates."_

" _But wouldn't being like brothers help make everyone stronger?" She asked._

" _Yes, and no." answered Blackjack as he pointed at Woodstock._

" _You see how Boss and Woodstock like brothers, yes?"_

" _Yes."_

" _That make them strong, but can also hurt them very bad."_

" _How?"_

" _Boss has lost many things recently, and it changed him, made Boss colder. And war is unpredictable. So because Woodstock like brother to Boss if anything happens to Woodstock, Boss's heart will be crushed. And if that ever happened, it is possible he would go down a dark path."_

" _Then I pray Mortifer will not lose anyone else. He's already sacrificed so much for something he doesn't even believe in anymore."_

* * *

" _You fight well Mortifer." Shēngcún stated. Blocking every strike of Mortifer's sword._

" _I learned from the best." grunted Mortifer in reply while he stopped Shēngcún's attacks and blocked a downward strike from the spiders sword_

" _Nigel_ _is dead and Julian is watching us with a drone." mouthed Shēngcún silently, while attacking viciously. "Inside the king's room, push the stone that has a rough texture. It will open a secret passage that leads to a safe place for Vanilla and her daughter."_

 _nodding slightly to show he got the message Mortifer quickly reached down and grabbed a smoke grenade. Spinning around to block Shēngcún's sword with one arm, Mortifer suddenly threw the grenade at him and yanked his pistol out and fired. Making it explode in the spider's face._

 _Blinded, Shēngcún froze in his current position and smiled while waiting for his eyesight to return. For in his hand he felt the sword he had given Mortifer to fight him._

* * *

 _Vanilla, after asking many questions had retired to knitting while Woodstock and Cream were still sleeping. Blackjack having grown tired of cleaning his gun had resorted to playing a game on his phone._

" _C'mon, so close!"_ _Tapping as fast as he could Blackjack was mere seconds away from beating Woodstock's high score, but was interrupted by a phone call._ " _No!"_ _Vanilla frowned and shushed him so he slapped his hand over his mouth. Mumbling as he walked into the kitchen Blackjack tapped the green button to answer it._

" _Who is it?" Asked Woodstock as he popped up behind him._

" _It's Boss." he replied and put the phone to his ear. "Hello?" he whispered "Ya, because communicator got shot out of my ear." Blackjack answered as Mortifer talked to him._

 _Unable to hear what Mortifer was saying Woodstock tiptoed behind the bulldog and slowly reached for it._

" _Why whispering? Because you left me with annoying bunny lady!"_ _swatting Woodstock's hand away Blackjack covered the phone as he hissed. "Quit it! Huh? No, no, I was talking to Woodstock. Yes I know how to get there."_ _The bulldog let out a growl as he continuously swatted Woodstock's hands away from the phone as he tried to grab it._ " _Okay I get them there as quick as I can. Yes I know, protect them at all cost. Okay bye." stuffing the phone in his pocket Blackjack walked back into the living room with Woodstock trailing behind him and grabbed the gun in the chair._

" _Boss says there safe place for you and kid. When he gets here he take both of you to it." He said as Vanilla picked up Cream._

" _That might be a problem." Woodstock said._

" _Why?" asked Blackjack._

" _Oh, there's about fifty or more Swatbots at the front door placing thermite charges." He replied casually while scratching his back with a minigun._

" _GET DOWN!" Blackjack yelled and jumped behind the couch, covering Vanilla with his body. Hearing several rapid beeps Woodstock turned around and faced the door as the charges went off. Melting the door and sending flames everywhere as Swatbots swarmed through the hole and pointed their guns at him_

" _I can't seem to scratch this spot on my back."_

" _FIRE."_ _Lasers ricocheted everywhere in the house as they hit and bounced off Woodstock, a few even hitting the robots._ _Picking up Vanilla Blackjack went to a wall at the back of the house and pushed a button. Making it open up like a door and ran down the streets heading for the palace._

" _You call those guns?" yanking up his minigun Woodstock cackled and squeezed the trigger. "This is a gun!"._ _Moments later the whole front of the house exploded. Stepping out of the back of the house he looked both ways, and then took off after the Bulldog._ " _Yo hold up, I'm not very good at running you know!" Woodstock said into his communicator._

 _*_ _ **END OF FLASHBACK***_

Drawing both pistols Mortifer aimed at Blackjacks door and felt inside his hideout with telekinesis. Feeling no one in it he opened the door, and let out a sigh as he saw an empty magazine in the middle of the room.

It was a code designed by Mortifer and Blackjack for both were always aware that such things as hidden notes,invisible writing, and code words were no match for technology. So instead they used a gun magazine. When placed it meant he would be gone for awhile, and if Mortifer ever needed him he would place bullets in it. Depending on how many bullets Mortifer put in it was how much he needed Blackjack. Reaching into one of his pockets Mortifer pulled out a handful of bullets and stuck as many as he could into the magazine.

"Woodstock, how's Cream doing?" he asked. standing still Mortifer didn't hear anything for a second. Then suddenly the sound of laser guns and Chainsaw(Woodstock's minigun) filled his ear. "Woodstock report! Woodstock!" throwing the magazine down Mortifer sped off creating a sonic boom, not caring if he attracted Robotnik or the KFF.

 **(If you do read this.)As always constructive criticism and suggestions are welcome so I can become a better writer. Translation:** _fratres mei ceciderunt: My fallen brothers._ **And** Numquam obliviscar: I shall never forget.


	7. Chapter 6

**A/N: I'm back! Took me awhile to get this one done, but at least I finished it! Thx to my proofreader GorillaBub. I do not own(and probably never will :'( Waaaaaah!) Sonic the hedgehog or Sega. Constructive criticism is greatly appreciated and I hope you readers enjoy this chapter**

 **Chapter: 6**

 _ ***Flashback***_

" _TARGET ACQUIRED. TAAARRRRGEEET-." The Swatbots voice cut out as its head was ripped off and dropped down onto the street._

" _Woodstock, Blackjack, come in!"_ _Ordered Mortifer._ _As he coughed up blood inside his helmet._ _He had lost contact with them hours ago, because it was being jammed. At least that was the only reason he was willing to believe._ _Limping across the street Mortifer pressed his back against an alley wall as two Swatbot patrols marched past him. Doing so however caused another wave of pain to come over his already severely wounded body._ _Making Mortifer want to throw the morphine out of his pouch because he knew when he found Vanilla and the others that they would want to give it to him, which in turn would slow every part of his body down. And Mortifer wouldn't risk their lives just because he was too weak to withstand the pain._

 _Waiting for them to finish their patrol Mortifer typed in several things on his wrist pad trying to track Woodstock and Blackjack, but received nothing but static. Sighing Mortifer waited till they were out of sight then ran towards his house, but skidded to a halt as he came around the corner and saw the house, covered in flames from Napalm._

" _No." He quietly whispered._ _While searching for bodies with his telekinesis._

" _TERMINATE TARGET."_ _Spinning around to meet his foe, Mortifer was suddenly punched by something causing him to go flying backwards through one of the houses outer steel walls. Letting out a sharp gasp as the breath was knocked out of him Mortifer drew his combat knife and shakily stood up. But nearly dropped it out of surprise when he saw who the robot was._

" _Shēngcún!?"_ _Jumping forward Shēngcún swung both swords at his head, forcing Mortifer to draw a second knife to block the other sword while looking in horror at his former mentor._ " _No! No! NO!"_ _Kicking the spiders torso and causing him skid backwards. Mortifer took a stance as Shēngcún stared at him with red optics, no longer filled with kindness and wisdom but replaced with emptiness. standing up he revealed his now, fully robotic body._

" _I will kill you, then the rabbit and her daughter." Shēngcún's robotic voice said._ _as he charged Mortifer and attacked him relentlessly._ _Mortifer defended the best he could but quickly started losing ground._ _Generating all the telekinisis he could muster Mortifer held Shēngcúns arms back and jabbed both knifes into the side of his head. But instead of deactivating, the spider grinned viciously at him with jagged teeth as another two arms came out of his body with swords, impaling Mortifer through the stomach._

 _ ***End of flashback***_

'Can't be Woodstock's gun has to be Swatbot, laser marks are too small and accurate.' Rubbing his hand across one of the many scorch marks Mortifer walked outside the ship and crouched down looking for tracks. But became frustrated at himself upon finding none. He wanted to go on a rampage and charge Robotnik's H.Q so Snively and Dr. Robotnik both would pay for taking Woodstock and Cream from him.

Letting out a deep breath Mortifer gained control of his anger for leaving Woodstock alone with her. Knowing that would be the worst mistake he could make to find them was for his emotions to control his actions.

'I'll find them, and I know exactly how to do it.' He thought. Going back inside the ship Mortifer went to the cockpit and pushed one of the buttons on the wall. Making a schematics hologram of Robotnik's Headquarters form in the middle of the room. While dozens of guns came down from the ceiling.

* * *

"Are you sure Uncle Mortifer, is okay staying by himself at your ship?" Cream asked. After they had played laser tag Woodstock had asked Cream if she wanted to see something really cool. Since she was having so much fun with her Uncle and not wanting to be rude to him, she said yes.

"Of course! Mortifer, loves being alone so he can think of doing things that makes us get shot at." Setting Cream down for a second Woodstock started messing with his right arm again.

"So you and uncle mort stayed here to help others?" She asked.

"Yes, and no." Replied Woodstock. as he got his fingers to move. "Morty doesn't really help others, unless they have some type of strategic value." Confused at what Woodstock was doing to his arm. Cream sat down and watched while she asked him more questions.

"But Mom tells me stories of how you, and uncle Mort, would risk your lives to save someone you didn't even know."

"Yup, I remember. But something's happened." He said. as he banged his arm repeatedly. "Ya see Morty lost his-." There was a loud clang as Woodstock's arm hit the ground and started sparking.

"You've been roboticized!?" Cream gasped.

"Say wha!? Heck no! I'm Cybernetic, completely different thing." Replied Woodstock as he picked the arm up and reattached it.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have assumed that about you. It's just that everyone who is turned into a robot turns evil because of Robotnik's roboticizer." She apologized. Picking Cream back up and putting her on his back Woodstock began walking again.

"You ain't gotta worry about that. They had to build me a new body and transfer my brain after most of my old one got blown up." Said Woodstock. like it was something he loved talking about.

"That's terrible!" Cream said. While giving him a comforting hug.

"Shoot, it ain't that bad. I may not be able to taste food n stuff, but I don't feel pain, never get tired, and can replace body parts. Mortifer even said there's nothing that can kill me! What are the odds of that?" Resting her head on the green hedgehogs massive shoulders, Cream decided to ask Woodstock some more questions. Since he seemed to like talking and she wanted to learn more about her missing uncles.

"Why is Uncle Mort always sad?" Cream asked.

Woodstock sighed and then explained. "Your Uncle has been through some rough stuff. Me and him have been fighting for a long time, a really long time. We lost a lot of friends, even Mortifer's father and mother."

"That's terrible!" gasped Cream.

Woodstock continued. "I can't remember a lot of it, something to do with me switching brains or something. But war is a terrible thing, Mortifer has seen things that he won't speak of. He seems all dark and creepy but on the inside he's still a nice person...Possibly." Suddenly perking up Woodstock grinned and asked "You wanna hear the story of how me and Morty met?"

"Sure." Answered Cream.

"It happened a long time ago, in a city far far away."

 ***Flashback***

 **(18 ½ ) years ago**

 **Location: City of Mobotropolis**

 _The streets were mostly empty in this part of Mobotropolis. Since it was noon and all the restaurants were nowhere near this part of the city. Nobody had any reason to be here, except for a lone mailman._ _Whistling as he drove, a middle aged squirrels day had been going well today and was on his last delivery. After driving the mail truck for most of his life he was finally getting a promotion, and a bonus in his paycheck. Stopping the truck at a big building with a sign on it saying "Acorn Orphanage." and hopping out of the truck he went to the back of it and threw the door open and grabbed a box with a coffee table. Turning around the squirrel stopped whistling as several loud crashes could be heard from inside the building and a teenage gorilla came crashing through the window._

' _Third time this week.' The squirrel thought as he sighed._ _Moments later the doors opened and a big green twelve year old hedgehog was thrown out. Landing right by the gorilla._

 _"He started it!" The hedgehog yelled._ _Looking at the unconscious gorilla he smiled. Picking him up with ease the hedgehog reared back and yelled. "Here, you can keep him!" As he threw him. But cringed as the gorilla missed the already broken window and flew into the second story window while several screams could be heard._ _"Sorry! He's a lot lighter than he looks!"_

 _"So why'd ya get kicked out this time Woodstock?" The squirrel asked._

 _"That gorilla kept picking on kids when the adults weren't looking." Woodstock replied. As he turned around and crossed his arms._

 _"Take it they didn't like your way of handling it?" Questioned the squirrel. as he sat the box down. "Nope. So what's in the box Larry?"_

 _"A coffee table, to replace the one you broke from using like a bat on a bully two days ago." Larry the squirrel said. Picking the box back up Larry went up the steps and knocked on the door._

 _"We'll I gotta find me another place to live. See ya!"" Said Woodstock._ _Waving goodbye to the boy, Larry shook his head at the poor boy as he knocked on the door again._

 _Walking down the streets Woodstock decided to head for the park while deep in thought. He never knew his parents. All he remembered was growing up in the streets, brawling for most of his life to get food and usually winning because his abnormally large size. Not many orphanages took him in because of his reputation for getting into fights. And even when they did take him in just kick him out later. He never got adopted because of his love for fighting, lack of education, love for destruction, and being slower than a hedgehog should due to his size._

 _The sound of a large crowd in the middle of the park suddenly drew Woodstock out of his sad thoughts. Hearing the sounds of a fight, he rushed over and made his way through the crowd to watch._ _Two young hedgehogs stood in a rope ring, as a crowd formed around them. While two Phantom Battalion Officers leaned against a wall watching the young ones._

" _I bet Joe is gonna win this one." Said the Lieutenant._

 _The other officer who was a Commander simply grunted._ " _I could care less about who wins, We're here to see if these grunts have been paying attention in Battle School." He replied._

 _As the two of Hedgehogs stood face to face glaring at one another the Commander stepped forward. "Rules are simple, No killing, and you fight until your opponent is unconscious or yields."_ _Stepping back the Commander yelled "Begin!"_ _Immediately the two boys began to fight. As they fought the crowd began to cheer._

" _These boys wouldn't last a minute in a real fight" Commented the Lieutenant._

" _True, but that is why we do this training exercise. To let them get a taste of a real fight." Replied the Commander._ _A few moments later the crowd went into an uproar as one of the boys kicked the other with a mid-air kick. Sending his opponent flying onto his back. The first boy went to strike again, when the other cried "Enough! I yield! I yield!"_

 _Suddenly a Massive hedgehog jumped in from the crowd. Blocking the attack, and followed up with a swift punch sending the boy staggering back._

" _Yo the fella said he yields. So give him a break dude." Woodstock said. S_ _eeing things were getting out of hand the Lieutenant went to step in and intervene but the Commander stuck his arm out in front of him._

" _Wait, I want to see how this punk does against a trained cadet." He stated._

" _But Sir!" the Lieutenant exclaimed._

 _The Commander ignored him. The one called Joe recovered, he hadn't expected this kid to get in his way. HE was a Nightwing cadet, best of the best, and nobody was gonna tell him what to do._

 _"Back off or i'll beat you to a pulp!" he growled at the Hedgehog._ _Woodstock quickly took a stance._

" _Your buddy said he yields, Fights over, you win!" he said._

 _Joe laughed. "So what? You gonna make me stop Spiky boy?" He taunted._

" _First, my name is Woodstock. Second you'll have to go through me before I let you beat up the other kid, whatever his name is." Woodstock replied._ _Joe yelled a warcry as he charged Woodstock. But Woodstock stood firm as Joe attacked him with a barrage of punches and kicks, using various techniques._

 _"The poor kids doesn't stand a chance against Joe! You got to stop this before someone gets hurt!" Cried the Lieutenant._ _Once again the Commander ignored him. Instead he watched the HedgeHog closely. Woodstock tried to block the attacks, but failed because he was too slow._ Yet the attacks seemed to have little effect on him. _After a few minutes of fighting Joe jumped and done a sidekick. But Woodstock dodged it. Then he spun around and punched Joe right in the face sending him flying backwards into the crowd. Woodstock took stance again, ready for round two while the Commander walked over to Joe and knelt beside the cadet as he checked him._

 _"You knocked him out cold boy" he said. "Joe here was my second best cadet. How would you like to face the best?" The Commander asked._

 _"Ah what the heck, might as well. I ain't got nothing better to do anywho." replied Woodstock._

 _Looking into the crowd the Commander asked someone "Sir, permission to have our best cadet fight this hedgehog."_

" _Permission granted." a monotone voice answered out of the crowd._

 _Murmurs from everyone could be heard while they parted. Creating a path for him as he walked into the makeshift ring. Woodstock cocked his head sideways in confusion as he looked at the other fighter. This hedgehog acted different than the others. He stood at attention, back straight, and hazel eyes unmoving as he looked straight ahead. Even his appearance was different. His fur, black with orange fur around his mouth and a short nose. But what really stood out was the black body armor on him, along with two pistols strapped low on his side._

" _Uh, you won't use those guns on me? Right?"_ _Instead of answering Woodstock's question he stayed unmoving while the Commander came up and took both guns._

" _Show him hows its done Mortifer." The commander said as he stepped out of their way and looked at both of them. "You know the rules, no killing, and you don't stop fighting until one of you is knocked out or yields. Ready?"_ _Woodstock nodded as he started juking while the other hedgehog took a fighting stance. Seeing that both were ready the Commander went to yell "Begin.". B_ _ut before he could say it, there was a loud pop as Woodstock's fist connected with Mortifers face causing his head to jerk backwards._

" _Oh dude! Sorry! I was just too excited and-!"_ _The crowd gasped as Woodstock suddenly saw stars and skidded backwards._

" _Now we're even." Mortifer stated._

" _Oh yeah, definitely even." Wheezed Woodstock._ _Standing back up he was surprised as he saw that Mortifer was still in the same stance, and that there was only a small bruise where he had hit him. Woodstock then realized he would need to quit holding back if he was gonna be the last one standing._

 _Smirking Mortifer motioned for him to attack, and that's when Woodstock let loose. Letting out a yell he charged Mortifer like a bull and rammed into him while Mortifer kept hitting Woodstock in the stomach as he was picked up and slammed down into the ground. Rearing back, Woodstock slammed his fist into the ground barely missing Mortifer's head. But then got knocked down from Mortifer using his legs to flip Woodstock over him._ _Jumping on top of him Mortifer roared in rage as he began hitting Woodstock with a blur of rapid punches._

" _Sir, he's seeing red again." said The commander. "Should I stop him?"_

" _No, I want to see how much Mortifer's challenger can take." Answered a red echidna with orange stripes and black armor as he stepped out of the crowd._

 _Meanwhile, Woodstock had lost all feeling in his face and was tired of seeing stars. Aiming the best he could with Mortifer's fist in his face, Woodstock swung and hit his chin as hard as he could. Making Mortifer fly through the air, then hit the ground with a THUD. Painfully getting off the ground Woodstock started rubbing his numb face as he looked at the Commander and asked. "Does my face look funny?"_

" _You're gonna need a lot, of stitches boy."_

 _"Oh awesome, always wanted to see how those felt anyways." Woodstock replied._ _Hearing rapid footsteps behind him Woodstock smirked and spun around slamming his head into Mortifers. However something he should have known by now, was that hits like that didn't stun the hedgehog._ _Sweeping Woodstock's legs, Mortifer hit him multiple times while he was in mid fall then kicked him. Blowing Woodstock all the way to the other side of the arena and before he could move Mortifer was standing over him._ _Suddenly his pistol flew out of The commander's hand, and into his as he aimed it at Woodstock's head._

" _Hey dude, I'll make a deal with ya. After you shoot me I'll tell you if I felt anything okay?" Said Woodstock sarcastically._ _As he watched Mortifer, Woodstock noticed he was in some kind of rage._ ' _Breathing heavily, in lala land, hand with gun in it shaking, he is definitely seeing red.' Thought Woodstock._

" _Mathias." Said the same red echidna that allowed the fight earlier to Mortifer as he walked up beside him. "Satis."_ _As his rage faded Mortifer holstered his gun and closed his eyes, letting out a deep breath and finally calmed down._

" _I apologize, my emotions controlled my actions." Mortifer said. As he slightly bowed to Woodstock then stood at attention._

" _No problem." Replied Woodstock. While extending his hand to Mortifer._ _Staring at it for moment, Mortifer grabbed his hand and shook it as the echidna asked._

 _"Where is your family?"_

 _Letting out a sigh Woodstock answered. "No idea, been roaming the streets most of my life." pondering for a moment the echidna looked Woodstock in the eyes._

" _How would like to live with us. You'd be fed three meals a day, a roof over your head, and training everyday." He asked._

" _Just one question, can I fight this guy everyday?" Woodstock questioned._ _And pointed at Mortifer._

" _Yes."_

" _Alright! I finally get a home!" He yelled._

" _I must warn you that the training you will do is brutal and will push you to, and beyond your limits." The echidna stated._

" _Fine with me." Answered Woodstock._

" _Come then, I will treat your wounds at home."_ _Following behind the echidna Woodstock turned and looked at the young hedgehog._

" _It's not that bad right? Cause' I still can't feel my face." Woodstock said. as he walked beside Mortifer._

" _If the Overlanders saw your face even they would cringe." Said Mortifer nonchalantly._

" _Ha, ha." Woodstock replied sarcastically. "It's not that bad...is it?_

 _ **End Flashback**_

"So, you and Uncle Mortifer become brothers from...fighting each other?" A perplexed Cream asked.

"Yeah, said he saw potential in me I think. My favorite part though was when we were beating the snot out of each other." Kneeling and setting Cream on the ground. Woodstock, flipped open a part of his arm and started pushing buttons as a large group of Swatbots marched towards them. "The party is about to begin!"

* * *

 **Location: Robotnik's prison**

 **Time: Unknown**

Everything was quiet, it had to be, he'd known that not long after they put him in here. Even if someone was just captured and put into a cell every single prisoner made sure, that you only whispered.

He was here when Robotnik ordered his Swatbots to put anyone that made any type of noise through excruciating pain. Who was this he? Leo, was his name. Though his name didn't matter to him anymore as the old brown cat tried to stay warm in the corner of his dark cell. Leo had been here for a long time. And was one of the most defiant, which was why he hadn't been roboticized like everyone else. Currently Leo held the record for disobeying every order of Robotniks.

But for doing that Robotnik decided to make an example by breaking him and letting him die here. And Leo was starting to have thoughts about giving up. He was going to spend the rest of his life in here so why make it worse than it already is? Being rescued was never going to happen. The prison had every place you could think of locked down enough to put Fort Knots to shame. And everyday he was forced to watch hundreds of families being marched to be turned into mindless slaves.

He didn't even bother looking as he heard the door to the cell in front of him open.

"No! No! Please! I don't want to be Roboticized!" The prisoner begged. Leo didn't want to hear anymore as he went to cover his ears, he'd heard it too many times before. "W-wait! You're not one of them!? You've got to get me out of here man!"

'Wait, that's not right?' The cat thought. As he went to his cell door and looked through the bars, Leo blinked and he tried to focus on the person in the cell. "Sonic! Is that you?" Leo asked. Suddenly all the prisoners started talking, asking for him to let them out first and disregarding the fact that they were attracting the guards attention. Falling to his knees while grabbing tightly to the hedgehog's arm the prisoner continued to plead.

Knowing Swatbots were coming to investigate, he yanked the pleading prisoner in front of him for every other prisoner to see. Leo stared wide eyed at the Hedgehog as he done a chokehold on the prisoner and put his hand over his mouth. Once he was unconscious, the hedgehog sat the prisoner in a corner and hid behind him while everyone who was asking for his help, fell silent.

"CHECKING FOR SOUND...NO SOUND DETECTED. CONTINUING ROUTINE PATROLS." once their footsteps faded, The hedgehog stood up, and walked through the cell door as it opened then closed without him touching it.

"You're not Sonic! Who are you?" Leo whispered. The Hedgehog stared at Leo for a moment then silently dashed down the corridor.


	8. Chapter 7

**A/N: Sorry for taking so long. As always constructive criticism and suggestions is greatly appreciated! If I made any mistakes plz tell me so they can be corrected. And Merry Christmas everybody!**

 ***Flashback(Yeah I know, they're getting annoying aren't they :P. last one for a little while I promise.)***

" _Fool, I taught you how to fight!" Said the robot spider. Leaving the swords in Mortifer, he reared back for the finishing blow as a blade extended out of his arm. "I will finish what they started." Shēngcún stated maliciously. Mortifer closed his eyes as the blade went towards his throat, ready to accept his fate._

 _Suddenly there was a loud Bam. Opening his eyes, Mortifer watched as Woodstock ran tearing up the cement road in the process from dragging Shēngcún through the ground. And slammed him down making a small crater as he began beating the spider with his fist._

" _What are you? A magnet for pointy objects or something, eh?" Blackjack deadpanned. As he knelt down and drew a combat knife. "Bite down on this." He said. And held the knife's handle by Mortifer's mouth._

" _Really? A knife? Of all things?" Mortifer groaned._

" _Yeah, and if you don't bite it. Your bad luck is liable to cause it to accidentally, slip out of my hand." Rolling his eyes Mortifer bit down on the handle while Blackjack grabbed the swords. "On three. one-."_

" _Don't even try that counting trick." Interrupted Mortifer._

" _Fine, no count." Replied Blackjack. Suddenly he yanked one sword straight out, making Mortifer bite down on it hard enough to crack the wood. "Hey! Not so hard on knife! It's been handed down my family for many generations!" Yelled Blackjack. While pulling out the other sword as Mortifer bit down again._ _Throwing it to the ground he took the knife from Mortifers mouth and helped him stand up. Then, taking off his armor Blackjack pulled out medical wrap from a pouch and started wrapping Mortifers wounds. Becoming bored of punching the spider, he spun around and threw him just as a squadron of planes flew over in formation. Causing several to go out of control and hit each other and crash into the city._

" _Woodstock! I said we need to be stealthy!" Said Blackjack. While facepalming._

" _I was! I took down those planes without using my minigun." Woodstock replied._

" _Why am I always stuck with the morons." Sighed Blackjack. "Come over here and do a medical check on Mortifer." Woodstock scanned Mortifer as he walked towards him and stopped smiling._

 _"He has a twenty percent chance of living."_ _Looking into Woodstock's eyes, Blackjack scowled at what he knew Mortifer had done when Woodstock underwent the operation._

" _Did Vanilla and Cream make it?" Coughed Mortifer. Helping him to his feet Blackjack answered._

 _"I don't know Boss."_

" _What do you mean you don't know!" Bellowed Mortifer while going into another coughing fit. Putting Mortifer's arm over his shoulder and helping him walk as fast as he could to quickly get them out of the city. Blackjack motioned for Woodstock to go ahead of them to make sure it was a clear the path, then replied._

 _"After getting inside the secret tunnel something hit the palace. Whatever it was, after it hit the whole tunnel collapsed and we got separated. I don't know if they made it through."_

" _I'm going back and digging until I find them! Even if it kills me!" Mortifer stated angrily._

" _There's nothing left to go back to! Me and Woodstock barely made it out with Swatbots chasing us before they leveled the place! If you go back you will die!" Blackjack replied. Pushing himself away from Blackjack, Mortifer tried to stand up but let out a gasp in pain and nearly fell down._ _Grabbing Mortifers shoulders and steadying him Blackjack tried reasoning with his commander that was, blinded by emotions._

" _I know you took an oath for Vanilla's husband Mathias! I know that breaking it is something you can never do! But in war we can't save everyone! There will always be someone we can't save! No one understands that better than you!" yelled Blackjack. "When your father died what did you do? Everyone was mourning his death but you, you kept going, kept pushing forward until we won. That is what you need to do now. Yes, Vanilla could've made it to the other city, or maybe they died we don't know." Slumping down in defeat Mortifer stared at the ground. "We are soldiers, this is our life. In this cruel world there will always be someone we hold dear, that we can't save. We just have to accept our losses and keep, pushing, forward." Both stood in silence as gunfire and explosions echoed around them._

" _Yo! I found this nice looking humvee. Can I keep it?" Crackled Woodstock's voice on the communicator._

" _Affirmative. We're gonna need it to get to the other city." Answered Blackjack. Slowly Mortifer, started limping towards the edge of the city as Blackjack went Mortifers side and started helping him walk again._

" _You're right." He said. To Blackjack rather coldly. Suddenly stopping, Mortifer turned and uttered. "_ _Deus soror mea custodiat te_ _." at the burning city. Then continued towards Woodstock's location._

 ***End of Flashback***

"Prepare for test forty five of upgrading roboticized test subjects armor to increase damage resistance for battle." Ordered a short human with a beak like nose, practically no hair, and wearing a green shirt and pants.

Flipping several switches a Swatbot, began pushing a lever up to increase the roboticizers power. Watching the test subject helplessly bang on the glass and yell with a bored expression the human looked down at his clipboard and starting writing things down.

"The roboticizer appears to be working flawlessly with the newly installed modifications. Begin testing of the robotization process." Looking up he noticed the test subject had quit banging and was staring wide eyed at him. "What is taking so long?" The human asked impatiently while waiting for the process to begin. "Must I do everything mysel-!" The words died off his lips as he turned around and the clipboard clattered on the floor as his face turned white from fear.

"Hello Snively." Mortifer greeted. In a menacing tone that sent chills through every bone in Snively's body.

"G-guards!" He screamed. While backing away from Mortifer as fast as he could. Mortifer chuckled darkly as every screen in the room suddenly pulled up all the security cameras. Every one of them showing hundreds of deactivated Swatbots.

"Looks like you're all alone Snively." Said Mortifer. While advancing towards Snively, who trembled with every step closer he got. "No Swatbots, no uncle to protect you. Just me and you alone, in a room with no way out." Using telekinesis Mortifer picked Snively up by the throat and sent him flying into his hand. "Shall we begin?"

* * *

"Come on over! There harmless!" Yelled Woodstock. While banging a Swatbot on the head to prove his point.

"Okay." Coming out from a fallen building. Cream cautiously walked to Woodstock and became amazed as he started stretching, with the whole battalion copying his every move. "You can control them?" Asked Cream in awe.

"Yep! And now for the best part!" Pushing a button on his wrist pad. All the Swatbots visors started flashing multiple colors as Techno music played loudly while Woodstock, started breakdancing with the Swatbots. Cream giggled as she watched her big uncle dancing to music. Then squealed in surprise as he slid over and picked her up, then started spinning and dancing with her. Making Cream laugh and forget all about wanting to go home.

* * *

"No! Please! I'm begging you!" Pleaded Snively. As he tried breaking free from Mortifers telekinesis. Slowly drawing his energy blade and spinning it, Mortifer slammed it down sending sparks everywhere.

"Where. Are. They."

"I d-don't k-know! We never captured them I-I swear!" Stuttered Snively. Removing the knife from the computer and sheathing it, Mortifer pulled a thermite grenade from his side and yanked the pin out.

"N-no! Please! Robotnik will kill me!" Throwing the grenade behind him onto another computer. Mortifer grabbed several more as he walked towards the other consoles and replied. "Then he'll be doing me a favor."

Breaking down in tears Snively began rambling out security codes, secret plans, secret base locations. All to stop him from destroying Robotnik's personal equipment and years worth of data. Knowing full well that his uncle would take all of his anger out on him and that the end results, would not be pretty.

"I'm not hearing what I want to know." remarked Mortifer. While throwing several grenades, that rapidly melted highly important pieces of equipment. "Ah, down to the last grenade. Such a shame that I'll have to destroy the Roboticizer. It's a unique piece of equipment that's, irreplaceable you know." Pushing a combination of buttons he released the test subject then drew his pistol, pointed it at the scared girl and motioned for her to leave.

"Thankyouthankyouthankyou!" She gushed. Taking a second to memorize Mortifer's face, she then ran as fast as she could out of the room.

"I'll give you to the count of three." Mortifer said. While Setting the grenade down on the roboticizer. He continued. "If I don't know their location by then I'll destroy every part of this machine, and every file." Reaching down Mortifer slowly started pulling the pin out.

"One."

"N-no! Anything but the Roboticizer!"

"Two."

"I'm begging you! Please don't do it! I don't want to die!"

"Three."

Suddenly before Mortifer pulled the grenade pin, the screens on the walls lit up. "SWATBOT SYSTEM SECURITY BREACH DETECTED IN SECTOR A-21. REBOOTING SYSTEMS AND SENDING REINFORCEMENTS IMMEDIATELY."

Clenching his fist in anger Mortifer growled as the screen showed Woodstock carelessly dancing with Cream and the Swatbots. Being released abruptly, Snively hit the floor face first and heard the screens shatter. And before he was back on his feet , Mortifer was gone.

"I hate hedgehogs." Snively moaned while holding his aching head, before falling backwards.

"I'm so going to kill Woodstock, for all the trouble he's put me through!" Mortifer said out loud. As he sped through the city, wanting to go faster but knowing if he broke the sound barrier he'd get a lot more trouble he'd have to deal with. "First I'll beat some sense into that empty skull of his and, for all the bullet and munitions he made me waste. THEN I'm gonna hit him some more for all the freakin times he got me shot! AND for the all the trouble he puts me through on a daily basis! "

"Whooohooo! Watch this Cream!" Woodstock yelled. Over the music as he done the robot dance. And became so caught up in dancing that he didn't notice the blur heading towards him, until it hit his head. Making it spin around several times while he tried not to lose his balance.

"Whoah! That was cool, and slightly weird at the same time." Straightening his head. Woodstock noticed a sound that sounded very similar to his minigun. And turned around to see Mortifer, using his minigun and destroying all the Swatbots. "Aw, I was having so much fun with them." Sighed Woodstock. While Mortifer threw the minigun to him and angrily stomped towards him until they were face to face.

"Uncle Mort? What's wrong?" Cream asked. Mortifer as he stared at Woodstock in silence. Several clangs echoed and Cream jumped in surprise from Mortifer hitting Woodstock, several times while yelling in anger.

"You brainless! No good! Son of a Motherless goat! Do you know how much trouble you caused me!? How much ammo, resources, and time I wasted because you left your communicator again! Do you!?"

"Ummmm, no not really?" Answered Woodstock. While Mortifer stopped hitting him, grabbed him by the throat and started shaking him back and forth.

"And as if that's not bad enough! You put Cream's life at risk, one of the only things keeping me sane! For your idea of fun!?"

Scratching his head Woodstock replied. "Um, yes?"

"Why you!"

Cream let out a gasp as Mortifer jumped on Woodstock and started beating him again.

"Hey! You have to be nice if you want presents!" Yelled Woodstock. In between Mortifer's punches. "It's almost Christmas!"

 **A/N: I may be able to write a Christmas chapter. No promises that I can get it done before Christmas but I will try to if I get the chance. Translation for:** _Deus soror mea custodiat te: God protect you sister._


	9. Chapter 8

**A/N: I've been so busy lately that I keep forgetting to thank my proofreader GorrillaBub -_-. Anyways, many extra thanks to Gorrillabub for proofreading and helping with ideas for this story. And constructive criticism to help me become a better writer is greatly appreciated. Hope enjoy this chapter.**

"Yo Mort! Where are the Christmas decorations?" Asked Woodstock.

Since it was Christmas eve, he couldn't contain himself and had began running around singing carols while he looked for decorations with the help of Cream, much to Mortifer's dismay.

Knowing that Cream no doubt, would get upset over not being able to be with her mother on this day. Mortifer was not going to tell her what day it was. However Woodstock, had apparently woken her up and asked for help setting up the tree and going through the marked boxes in search of lights and glass decorations for Christmas.

"If they were made out of glass I used them to make shotgun bullets." Answered Mortifer. From the kitchen as he cooked a meal fit for a king that he had been busy with since Woodstock, and Cream had asked if they were going to eat special foods for the holiday. Reluctantly agreeing, Mortifer made sure that Woodstock was going to be nowhere near the kitchen. Not after the last time, after he turned mashed potatoes into C4.

"I swear one of these days I'm gonna remove his voice box." Mortifer muttered. while putting the ham in the oven.

"I found the nativity Uncle Stock!" Cream yelled happily.

"Hmm, looks like all we got is a tree and the nativity. So now all we're missing is, the Presents!" Woodstock took off towards his room and almost ran over Mortifer as he came out of the kitchen.

Raising his fist Mortifer, was about to yell an insult at Woodstock. But before he could Cream skipped past him "Uncle Stock is gonna help me with your present Uncle Mort, so no peeking!" she said with glee. Instantly cooling Mortifer's anger as he half smiled back at Cream.

"I won't." He replied as she disappeared into Woodstock's room.

Mortifer's smile however dropped as he quickly opened the ship's door and stepped outside with a sigh. After he was sure neither of them had heard him, Mortifer slowly started trudging through the snow covered Robotropolis. Christmas day wasn't a day he celebrated or liked. Not because it was about the birth of Christ, or a day where you give gifts to everyone, it was because of...personal reasons.

Minutes later he arrived at his destination, an old cemetery. Opening the creaky rusted gate Mortifer stopped and began clenching, and unclenching his fist as a flood of old memories hit him, that were still fresh on his mind. Taking several deep breaths to clear his mind, Mortifer slowly walked towards the middle of the graveyard to a grave that unlike most didn't have a tombstone. But a gun with the barrel stuck in the ground, and a helmet identical to Mortifers, on top of it.

Placing his hand on top of the helmet Mortifer whispered "Nascimur mori sumus mori pudor et timor gerimus." then stood in silence staring, at the grave with his hand still resting on the helmet as a cold wind gently blew through the cemetery.

"You were right, Cream takes after her mother in every way." Mortifer said. To the grave. "But everytime I look at her I don't see Vanilla, all I see is..is...Peter. And how **I** failed to get him back to his family." Suddenly Mortifers usual calm demeanor was replaced by anger as he roared out. "I should have saved you and Peter! I should have been able to protect both of you! Yet no matter what I did! I wasn't strong enough, I wasn't fast enough, I wasn't a good enough soldier! To save anyone!" Falling to his knees Mortifer covered his face with one hand as his roar, became a whisper.

"So I'm left here, asking myself everyday. Why I didn't die on that damned battlefield that day, like everyone else. Why did I survive?." Standing up Mortifer's left hand began shaking uncontrollably as he removed it from the helmet It. "I know Peter's up there with you. So can you..can you tell him I'll get Cream back home?" The helmets cold empty eyes stared back at Mortifer in silence. "Thanks."

* * *

"Shhhh! I think that's Morty!" Whispered Woodstock. Quickly hiding Mortifer's presents behind their backs. Both Cream and Woodstock waited until Mortifer had walked in, and closed the door behind him before yelling. "MERRY CHRISTMAS!" And presenting Mortifer his gifts.

Woodstock quickly turned and covered Cream with his body as Mortifer whipped out his pistol and emptied a clip on their direction, leaving burn marks all over the wall and Woodstock.

"Oh! Sorry Mort, I forgot about your-." Looking up Woodstock was puzzled to see Mortifer nowhere in sight "Problem with flashbacks?"

As soon as he realized what he had done, Mortifer ran straight in his room, and dropped the gun on the floor. Then punched the wall. How could he have done that! Right after promising her father that he would get Cream back safely, he almost shoots her! Raising his hand as it started shaking again, Mortifer angrily slammed it back into the wall. 'Cursed Flashbacks!' Mortifer said. In his head as he started hitting the wall repeatedly. Though Mortifer understood it was something he couldn't control. He couldn't get past the fact that HE, had almost killed someone who was family to him, a innocent child. Such an act would be unforgivable.

"Uncle Mort?"

'I'm nothing but a danger to everyone around me.'

"Uncle Mort."

'I'm a no good-'

"Uncle mort!"

He was snapped out of his thoughts suddenly and noticed, that most of the metal wall was filled with holes. "What?" Mortifer answered. Cream, not even daring to look at her out of shame.

"Are you okay?" She asked.

Pulling his fist out of the wall which caused part of it to collapse, Mortifer closed his eyes, and tried to resist the urge to hit the wall with Cream present.

"I'm not the one who almost got shot." He muttered.

"It was a accident uncle Mort." Cream said. in sympathy. "Uncle Stock told me that it's something you got from a war, and that you can't control it. So it's okay, everyone has accidents, please don't get mad at yourself. It's Christmas."

Oh how badly Mortifer wanted to tell her his woes. How he was the reason she didn't have a father, or that he gave them up for dead in the city. When he had promised that he would never let anything harm them. And that he relived the same nightmares, that robbed him of sleep every night. Then explain to her some of the dark things he had done during, and after the war just to survive. Just to remove a smidgen, of the huge burden he bore on his shoulders. No, he couldn't do that. She was a child not some, war veteran who understood his pain. he doubted he could ever tell her what one person would do to another in war, just so their country could claim a piece of dirt. Such a thing would shatter her innocent mind. "I don't know if that's something I can do Cream." Mortifer stated sadly.

"Momma said that Jesus came down today so we need to be happy, not sad. And that he forgives everyone's mistakes, even the really mean people like Robotnik. So, if he can forgive someone like Robotnik, I'm sure he don't mind forgiving you for something that was an accident." Cream said. With a huge smile on her face. "And I know what I want for Christmas."

Raising a eyebrow Mortifer asked. "What? Name anything and I'll make sure you get."

Swaying her body innocently while giving Mortifer the big eyes she answered. "For you to not be mad at yourself, and to be happy."

Pondering her words for a moment Mortifer smirked. "Just this once. Afterwards, I go back to being mad at myself, deal?"

She let a squeal of delight startling Mortifer as she hugged him tightly. "Thanks uncle Mort!"

"Yeah, yeah you're welcome." Mortifer said. While feeling awkward as he hugged her back.

"Come on! Uncle Stock said the ham was done!" Exclaimed Cream.

As she grabbed his hand and tugged him to the kitchen Mortifer muttered. "Woodstock better not have tried cooking the food faster with his flamethrower...again."

Maybe after all this time he had been wrong. But could Someone that would never be able to live a normal life like him be happy? In Mortifer's mind, he would never be able to do that. However, after hearing what Cream said there was a minuscule of hope, in the back of his head that wouldn't go away. That the deaths of those he held dearest, weren't his fault. Watching as Cream chastised Woodstock for already eating half of the ham, Mortifer put on a fake smile.

He may never live a happy life, but he would make sure that Cream and Woodstock lived happy ones as long as there was life in his body.

 **A/N: Sorry for it being so short and any mistakes I made, I've been busy lately and wrote down something quick. And Merry Christmas! Even though It's...fifteen days later. Huh days fly by fast when ya get busy. Translation for:** Nascimur mori sumus mori pudor et timor gerimus.: We are born to die we are prepared to die we bear no fear and no shame


	10. Chapter 9

**A/N: This one's a rather short chapter but I hope you guys enjoy it!** **Thank you GorillaBub for always helping me by proofreading.** **AND a special thanks to Austin 'SirAuruda 1st Bass for following and favoriting th** **is story :). Also I went back and tweaked the old chapters a little bit.**

Part of Cream was happy, but a part of her was also sad as she sat wrapped in a blanket, behind some rubble. Tapping on a piece of metal. Today was the day she would see her mom again. But also the day she would be leaving her lost uncles. The uncles that her mother was always showing her pictures of while telling stories of heroic things they did during the Overlander war. And how they had risked their lives and saved the both of them during the start of the Robotnik war.

Cream knew how much her two uncles meant to her mother. Having them come back home and surprising her mother, would be the best late Christmas present she could ever give her. But no matter what she said, Cream was unable to convince Mortifer to go with her to Knothole.

"I know it would mean the world to your mother. But you can't tell anyone about us, not even your her." Her uncle had said. As they prepared for the mission to get her home.

Cream didn't ask Mortifer any more questions out of politeness after not getting a direct answer about _why_ , no one could know. And quietly listened as Mortifer explained the plan one final time. The two of them would find Sonic and his group, and set Cream in their path as she sent out an SOS in morse code on a communicator. Once the group started heading back to Knothole, they would clear the path for them. While using a tracker placed in Cream's glove to follow them, so they could get rid of anything that tried to harm her.

Cream perked up and stopped tapping as a red light in the distance beeped twice, signalling her that the KFF was close. Turning off the communicator Cream, could hear the group heading towards her as someone yelled out. "I'm not saying that the signal isn't coming from Cream! I'm saying, that we don't need to jump to conclusions!" She knew that voice! It was Knuckles! "We'll I'm positive it's Cream!" Someone yelled back

"Amy?" Cream called out. Stopping a red echidna with white spiked gloves and a pink hedgehog, wearing a red and white dress, in their tracks as they saw her.

"CREAM!" Amy cried in joy. As she ran and hugged Cream, then instantly went into big sister mode and started checking for any signs she had been hurt. "Are you okay!? Are you hurt!? Did you have enough food and water this whole time!? No one hurt you, did they? No one better have hurt you! If someone hurt you I'm gonna find them and-!"

"Are you okay in every way." Knuckles cut in.

"Yes." Answered Cream. "And I've been getting plenty of food and water." She was quickly embraced by Amy again, who was on the verge of crying.

"I-I Thought, I had lost you." She sniffed. "We've been looking non-stop for you. I promise I won't ever let something like this happen again." After a few sisterly words were exchanged between the two, and both cleaned the tears from their eyes. Cream looked behind Amy and thanked Knuckles who told her it was no problem, while muttering something about stupid dust getting in his eyes.

"How'd you get enough to eat, and stay warm this whole time? And where'd you get the Communicator?" asked Knuckles. Pulling the blanket tighter around herself, Cream opened her mouth to answer but Amy beat her to it.

"I think she'd like to go home and see her mother before we start asking questions. Right Cream?"

"If you don't mind." agreed Cream. Amy swiftly picked Cream up, and started walking with Knuckles in the direction they had come from.

"Operation Wabbit, is a go." The pile of rubble that was beside Cream whispered loudly.

" _Tell me if anything, or anyone pulls up on your scanner."_ Replied Mortifer. Through the communicator.

"Will do Morty." Picking the pile of rubble up Woodstock started following them, silently tiptoeing and stopping whenever Knuckles would look behind him.

"Swatbots, eight o'clock, one hundred and two yards ahead." Said Woodstock. Aiming down his scope Mortifer rapidly fired six suppressed shots. Then stood up and jumped across several rooftops before laying prone again. Both Hedgehogs continued to repeat this process. But for every Swatbot squad they cleared, another one would come in, with more than the last one. Mortifer knew that even though he had placed several boxes of ammo at each location. It wouldn't be enough to protect Cream if hundreds of Swatbots swarmed them, even with Woodstock's firepower. Thus why Mortifer placed bombs in some of Robotnik's key locations. to hopefully make any nearby Swatbots, fall back to defend them.

"The Echidnas stopping again. Be ready to move if he discovers you Woodstock." Mortifer Said. As Knuckles started walking toward Woodstock, while Amy rolled her eyes and sighed in annoyance.

"I'm telling you, that is the same pile of rubble from where we found Cream!" Knuckles said. For the third time.

"Knuckles, don't you think you're being a little too paranoid?"

"Look! That thing is moving!" He exclaimed while walking over to the pile, and looking it over for a moment.

"C'mon we ain't got all day, there's plenty of rocks to stare at Knothole." Amy said sarcastically as Knuckles continued to stare at the pile.

"Woodstock. DIG." Ordered Mortifer, as Knuckles reared back, and began punching it with his fists. Cream's grip tightened on Amy as she let out a whimper and looked away. While helplessly listening as her uncle was getting punched by her friend. Cream understood that there was very few things that could hurt her massive uncle. But, she hated any type of violence, like her mother. Even seeing a simple slap to the face would bring her to tears.

"Knuckles. Knuckles! KNUCKLES!" Yelled Amy while stomping her foot in frustration as she tried to get Knuckles attention "KNUCKLES!"

"WHAT!?" Knuckles yelled back angrily. As both his fist slammed into the now, flat pile of rubble.

Mortifer let out a sigh and tried contacting Woodstock while Amy began chastising Knuckles. Which in seconds, turned into yet another argument between the two.

"Woodstock report." Mortifer pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration as he received nothing but static. "Why do I even bother giving him a communicator." he muttered. And began scanning the area with infrared.

"BOTH TARGETS CONFIRMED." Mortifer heard a deep robotic voice say over one of Robotnik's comm channels through his helmet. And slowly reached for his knife. "TERMINATING SECONDARY TARGET TO ENSURE TERMINATION OF PRIMARY TARGET." Mortifer suddenly rolled sideways as a energized blade slammed into floor, and a sleek silver robot decloaked. "ASSISTANCE REQUIRED TO ENSURE 100% TERMINATION." It said. Yanking the blade out the robot stood motionless as another blade extended out of it's arm while it analyzed every move Mortifer could make. Using telekinesis to draw a second blade, Mortifer sent a quick glance to make sure Cream and her friends were safe and still argueing. That was all the Robot needed. Thrusting forward it slammed its blades down on Mortifer's knifes and the two began fighting.

'If I'm the secondary target.' Blowing the robot backwards with telekinesis, Mortifer spun around and blocked another blade as a second robot uncloaked. 'Then that means...Creams the primary target!' Mortifer looked and watched in horror as someone uncloaked in the distance. But his attention was brought back to the fight at hand when he felt a searing pain of a blade cutting across his chest.

"Mortifer." Said Robotnik over Mortifers radio. "Not to long ago I learned that YOU, destroyed several of my personal computers and files. Which contained information of the whereabouts of that blue fur ball and his pathetic followers. I was close to finding Knothole and wiping them off the face of mobius. Now, I have to start all over again. So how about we make it even? Hmm?"

Letting out a growl Mortifer jumped over one and dug his fingers into its head, then ripped it off.

"Your life, or the girls. You get to decide again Mortifer." The remaining Stealthbot began shaking as Mortifer Focused his telekinesis. And suddenly exploded into hundreds of pieces as he dove and grabbed the sniper rifle, and fired an entire magazine at the sniper.

"I knew you would try that." Chuckled Robotnik. "So I equipped it with a energy shield that is impenetrable." Mortifers blood ran cold as he realized Robotnik had him right where he wanted him, and there was nothing he could do about it. "Times running out for her Mortifer, better run as fast as you can."

Throwing the gun down Mortifer began running as fast as he could while Robotnik started counting down.

"Three."

Using telekinesis on his body to run faster Mortifer broke the sound barrier and continued to climb higher in speed.

"Two."

But no matter how fast he went, it wasn't fast enough as Cream came into sight. Time seemed to freeze around Mortifer as he sped past everything and reached for Cream.

"One."

 **A/N: For those of you who noticed that I didn't put the disclaimer, I kinda don't see the point in posting it on every chapter. Constructive criticism is appreciated. And thanks again to** ** Austin 'SirAuruda 1st Bass**


	11. Chapter 10

**A/N: Sorry for taking so long been real busy, I also apologize if this chapter isn't very good because of how little time I've had to work on it. So if you any mistakes blame it on my scapegoat GorrillaBub :P.**

" _You mean to tell me that you don't know how to play tag?" Asked a teenage Woodstock as him and Mortifer walked into the palace._

 _"I've never had any friends before, and usually I spend my free time studying tactics and training." Mortifer replied and stood at attention while he waited for Woodstock's instructions on playing tag._

 _"So how exactly do you play tag?"_

 _Slapping Mortifer on back Woodstock said "Dude, don't be so uptight, at ease." And rolled his eyes at Mortifer as he continued to stand at attention. "The rules are simple, one person is chosen to chase other people around until he touches someone else. Then whoever he touched has to take his place and try tagging someone."_

 _"So it's like a survival situation? You do whatever is necessary to stay away from the person trying to touch you?"_

 _Woodstock sighed. "Yeah, pretty much." Then smirked as he said "I know the perfect place to start." as both ran off down one of the hallways. It wasn't long before they came back running as fast as they could._

" _Told you tag was fun!" Hollered Woodstock as they dashed outside and into a field._

 _"I'm not sure my father approves of such training" Muttered Mortifer as he followed close behind his comrade._

 _"It is an advanced training were something bad happens if you get caught. So i'm sure he will understand." Stated Woodstock in a matter-of-fact way._

" _Halt! You young rascals! Give me back that piece! It goes to a very important project!" An elderly gray hedgehog with a white mustache yelled angrily before pausing to catch his breath. "Darn youngins, no respect these days"_

Mortifer was jarred awake and noticed someone was carrying him through a forest. For a moment his mind was blank, then a flood of memories hit him.

"Wood-." Spinning around Woodstock fired his minigun all around him into the forest, clearing a mile radius of trees. "Woodstock, set me down Now." Mortifer ordered.

"Sorry Mort." Woodstock apologized as he sat Mortifer down against a tree trunk and handed him a canteen. Popping the lid off Mortifer took a swig, then looked down at his chest as he felt pain in several spots.

"They were some bandits and I, kinda forgot you were on my back." Letting out a grunt in response, Mortifer reached for the canteen lid but for some reason, he couldn't seem to grab it even though his hand seemed to be right on it. Nervously Woodstock said "Yeeeah about that, you might wanna look in a mirror." And pulled out a piece of glass so Mortifer could stare at his reflection.

"That explains a few things." Remarked Mortifer as he put a hand on the bandage covering his right eye, then pulled it off.

"Laser disintegrated that half of the helmet and fried your eyeball, plus a little bit around it." Woodstock stated as Mortifer smiled at the reflection.

"Elias always said that you weren't a true veteran until you survived a shot in the face. Took twelve years of fighting but, it finally happened."

Taking a look over his body Woodstock sighed "I wish **I** , had battle scars." and crossed his arms.

Putting the bandage back on Mortifer replied "If you didn't have to replace your parts so often maybe you would have some."

"True." Agreed Woodstock. As Mortifer stood up and looked around.

"My telekinesis seems to have replaced my missing eyesight, probably why I didn't notice at first. Have you been tracking Cream while I was unconscious?"

"Yep, they made it back to Knothole."

"Did you go into Knothole and map it out?" questioned Mortifer while looking at the damage done to his helmet.

"Uh no I thought our objective was get Cream there then skedaddle back to Robotropolis?" Woodstock replied and followed Mortifer as he acquired the trackers signal and started running towards Knothole.

"No. we need to get a layout of the place and their supplies. And, I want to see that Vanilla and Cream are safe with my own two-."

"Eye! You only got one now remember?" Woodstock cut in.

"I'm well aware of that Woodstock."

" _This is Charlie team reporting in. We've arrived at the sight, nothing's pulling up on our gear. But whatever it was had a lot of firepower, enough to level about a mile of the forest."_ A voice crackled over someone's communicator. Skidding to a sudden halt, Mortifer stuck his arm out then jerked it back and hissed in pain as loud clang rang out from Woodstock's body.

"What is it?" Asked Woodstock rather loudly. Mumbling something unintelligible Mortifer yanked Woodstock down into a bush as a soldier walked by.

"Alright Charlie, whatever it was is probably still around. Go ahead and Finish your routine patrol. This is Sgt Steel to all patrolling units, we have a possible tango armed with heavy firepower. I want everyone on high alert."

while the soldier walked away Mortifer glared at Woodstock and said "Pay attention so that when I do this!" Mortifer done the hand sign he done moments ago. "You can see it and stop!"

"Sorry." Woodstock Apologized.

Letting out a sigh as he rotated his arm Mortifer asked. "I'm guessing Knotholes security is better than their outposts?"

"A whole lot better, I even heard some of the guards say it's "Impenetrable"." Replied Woodstock as he hacked into their system and pulled up a hologram of the security layout around Knothole.

"They said that about Deathlock Prison, none of the guards knew what happened to their prisoner for days." Mortifer said as he studied the hologram. "Any defenses against an underground attack?" Woodstock shifted through Knotholes data for a moment as he finished downloading the rest of their defenses, then shook his head.

"Nope."

"Then that's how you'll get in." Said Mortifer.

"What about you?" Woodstock asked.

"I'll sneak in as a civilian. When you get there find Creams house, Without Being Seen, and wait for me there."

* * *

Constant chattering echoed through the forest as group of civilians being escorted by soldiers neared the entrance of Knothole.

"What's the food like?"

"Do we get our own houses?"

"Is it safe from Robotnik?" Questions like these were constantly being asked and the soldiers answered the best they could.

"Identify yourselves." A guard yelled out at the group from one of the many, pillboxes rowed up in front of Knotholes gate. "Squad X-ray, ID numbers are 7756, 7963, 7236, and 7564. Orders are to escort civilians to the safety of Knothole." A corporal stated as him and his men stood at attention while one guard walked towards them with his gun at the ready.

"ID's are legit, but I need full body scan done on everybody."

Nodding the corporal turned and yelled "Alright, everyone line up in row." Once everyone finally lined up the guard began scanning them with a handheld device.

"Woah, they got some tight security." A Black hedgehog with a white muzzle said in awe.

"What did you expect kid? Robotnik's been trying everything to find Knothole." Replied an older orange hedgehog beside him that was wearing sunglasses.

"Ya think I could meet Sonic? Cause that would be totally wicked!" The young one asked excitedly.

Rolling his eyes the older one sighed "Kids these days. Just be glad you don't have to survive out in the wastelands like I did for years."

"Clear!" The guard yelled as he finished scanning everyone and told them to go in. The huge metal gate slowly opened and the group stared in awe at the city of knothole. People were going about their daily duties while children played in front of the many houses. Inside the walls, it looked like no one even knew there was a war going on.

Leaning towards the orange hedgehog the black one whispered "Psst, cover for me, I'm going to check out the houses."

"Nobody's supposed to go anywhere until they put us in the syste-!" Looking around the orange hedgehog noticed that the other hedgehog was already gone. "If he wants to get himself in trouble that's his problem." He mumbled.

"WOOHOO!" Running down the street the hedgehog ran past each house and waved at everyone he saw, even the bush that waved at him. "Wait what?" Skidding to a halt and backing up, he caught a glimpse of the bush as it went behind the house. Scratching his head he looked around to see if anyone else saw the bush, but no one seemed to notice it. Slowly he tiptoed towards the back of house and peeked around the corner. Not seeing the bush anywhere he stepped around the corner, then suddenly reached up and caught a punch that was aimed for his face.

"Woodstock, had you hit somebody with that much force, there head would be nothing but a red mist." Stated Mortifer while turning off the hologram disguise on him.

"Isn't that a good thing?" A bemused Woodstock asked from the bush.

Letting go of his hand Mortifer adjusted the bandage on his eye and replied. "Yes but these are civilians, we need them to be unconscious not disintegrated. Now give me my gear."

Throwing Mortifer his stuff Woodstock sat back down on the ground with his bush. While Mortifer quickly put his armor on and set his weapons to stun.

"They're home right now." Said Woodstock.

"I know." Mortifer replied as he telekinetically took the bush off Woodstock.

"There's a skyline on the roof that we'll use to see Vanilla and Cream. After we see that both are well, we're going back to Robotropolis." Jumping to the top of the two story building Mortifer began walking towards the skylight. But then quickly spun around and caught Woodstock before he could demolish the roof with his landing.

"Cream, supper is ready." Vanillas unforgettable gentle voice rang. Carefully setting Woodstock down Mortifer peeked through the glass, trying to catch a glimpse of someone he thought he lost long ago.

"Uh, Morty." Woodstock said as the roof started creaking

"Shh!" Shushed Mortifer.

"Mooort."

"Shhhh!"

"Ah heck, this isn't going to end well" stated Woodstock as the part of the roof he was standing on started sinking.

Prying his eyes from the window Mortifer quietly hissed "For the love of rings, Wha-!"

Unable to hold Woodstock's weight the roof caved in sending them plummeting into the house. Mortifer quickly reacted and landed on his feet in the second story. Woodstock however, broke through the floor on the second story, slap through the first story floor, and then came to a stop upon embedding himself into the concrete floor in the basement.

"Woodstock!" Mortifer yelled down at Woodstock angrily.

"I blame the author!" Woodstock Yelled back.

"Uncle Mort!" Turning around Mortifer was tightly embraced by Cream "I thought you said you weren't coming back with me?" She asked then gasped as she noticed Mortifer's bandaged eye "What happened!? Are you okay? Will it heal?"

"His eyeball got crispy fried from a laser, so he'll only be able to glare at everything with his left eye." Woodstock's voice echoed from the basement. Rolling his eye at Woodstock's words Mortifer hugged Cream back

"Was it because you were protecting me?" She guiltily questioned. Letting go of her Mortifer looked down at her innocent brown eyes and replied

"No, It was my fault, I made a tactical mistake and it cost me my eye." The sound of breaking glass made both of them quickly turn and look to see Vanilla with a broken tea kettle and tea cup at her feet as she stared in shock.

"Cream, go check on Woodstock." Mortifer said rather quietly as him and Vanilla both stared at each other. Seeing that her mother and Mortifer needed to be alone, Cream nodded and quickly went down the stairway.

"I thought I lost...both of you." Vanilla tearfully cried as she ran and hugged Mortifer.

"I'm sorry, I failed you and Peter as a brother, just like I failed everyone else." Mortifer sorrowfully said and held her tightly. "I'll never lose you again." Mortifer continued to hold Vanilla in his embrace as all his guilt and pain over his promise faded away.

"You're injured!" Vanilla exclaimed as she wiped the tears from her eyes.

"I'm fine, have you been hurt at all by anyone?" Asked Mortifer. Breaking from his embrace Vanilla reached up and started removing the bandage over his eye as she replied

"No. And you're not fine, the wound could become infected and make it where you can't see out of that eye."

"There ain't no eye left." Mortifer stated while she removed the bandage and grimaced. "Before you ask, it was because of a tactical error."

Their moment was interrupted when a loud bang was heard from outside and Woodstock waved at them through the kitchen window.

"Can he for once in his life not ruin my day." Mortifer muttered as sirens started blaring.

"Um...I think they noticed us Mort" Woodstock mouthed through the window while guards started surrounding him

"Surrender! We don't want to hurt you!" Barked the Guard Commander. "Oh don't worry, I'm cybernetic so your weapons are useless against me." Replied Woodstock as he grinned and waved.

"Open fire! It's a robot! Take it down before it can send a distress signal!" Cried the Commander as he and his men opened fire on Woodstock.

"What is the deal with you fellows! CYBER-NE-TIC! Not a robot. Two completely different things!" Woodstock yelled as bullets and arrows ricocheted off his body in random directions. Woodstock then rolled into a ball and began rolling into the guards sending them flying into the air. "Sorry, but Mort said not to kill ya, so hope you don't mind a few broken bones!" He said as he bowled through the guards ranks.

It didn't take long for Sonic to appear along with Bug-Eyes and Rotor from hearing the commotion across Knothole.

"What the heck is going on?" Sonic asked one of the guards.

"There's a robot intruder. It fell into Cream and Vanilla's house. We've tried taking it out but it's too armored!" A guard answered as he ran by.

"Rotor, Bug-Eyes, go check on Cream and Vanilla. I'll take care of robo-ball over here." Ordered Sonic as he balled up and sped toward the intruder.

. Quickly running towards the house bug eyes and rotor rammed through the front door.

"Vani-" Rotor stopped mid sentence as he stared at Mortifer...and the massive pistol he had pointing at him. Bug-Eye pointed at the Mortifer and whispered "See! see! I told you the Reaper was real!" He quickly shut up when Mortifer pulled out a second pistol and pointed it at him.

"Any sudden moves or sounds and I'll blow your brains out." Growled Mortifer. Grabbing his shoulder Vanilla said "Mortifer these are my friends, please put the gun down and tell Woodstock to stop fighting."

"You know these guys Vanilla?" Questioned Rotor before gulping as Mortifer took a step forward and Vanilla blocked his path.

"Please Mortifer?" She pleaded.

Holstering only one pistol Mortifer stepped past her and threateningly ordered "You two, outside, NOW." the two immediately started walking backwards out the door when Cream ran in between them to Mortifer.

"Uncle Mort, what are you doing?" She asked as Mortifer walked past her.

"Stay inside with your mother Cream." He replied and walked outside closing the door behind him. Extending his arm Mortifer used telekinesis and Suddenly everyone outside stopped moving as if they were frozen, even the bullets stood still in midair. Looking around for a moment in satisfaction Mortifer stepped off the porch, walked to Woodstock who was still balled up and tapped twice on him.

"Yeees?" Woodstock responded and stood up.

"We're going to negotiate." Mortifer said as he walked towards Sonic.

"Say wha!?" Yelled Woodstock.

"Just shut up and let me do the talking." Staring at Sonic Mortifer reluctantly said "We want to meet with your leader to clear somethings up. I'm going to allow you to speak but only if you order your soldiers to stand down." Taking Sonics grunt for a yes Mortifer released him then threatenly said "Try anything and I'll break everyone of their necks."

 **A/N: My mind kept going blank on this chapter, especially near end for some reason. But like I said above that's what a scapegoats good for :P**


	12. Chapter 11

**A/N: I've been busy and tired so if you guys see any mistakes or something that doesn't make sense don't be afraid to correct me. I mostly write at night so my tired brain probably missed some things. Hope ya enjoy.**

"Sooo, what are they saying?" Asked Woodstock while spinning his miniguns barrel around with his hand out of boredom

"Their arguing over whether or not to negotiate with us." Mortifer answered while staring at one of the two soldiers guarding the door to the room they were in.

Not long after their fight with the KFF, the two were immediately escorted to what Mortifer assumed was the Command Center. And put inside a room and told they would have to wait there while they discussed what to do. Unbeknownst to them, Mortifer was using telekinesis to listen to their entire conversation through the wall.

"Airborne?" Mortifer asked the guard he had been staring at.

"Uh, yes sir, 106th division." The soldier replied cautiously.

"How many tours?"

"Three."

"You have my respect soldier." Mortifer said before turning his attention to the door as a very aggravated princess Sally walked in, along with a brown and black furred female Lynx wearing a black and purple sleeveless dress, along with black and white gloves, and shoes.

"Leave us." Sally ordered the soldiers and glared at Mortifer.

"If you're trying to be intimidating, you're failing miserably." Mortifer stated in a monotone voice and crossed his arms. Hearing Mortifer's spine chilling tone Woodstock stopped spinning the gun's barrel and sat upright. Whenever he talked like that it usually meant he was trying to intimidate someone. Woodstock then tried looking serious. Mortifer was always lecturing him about being "intimidating". Saying something like "First impressions are always crucial Woodstock. It gives you a tactical advantage." Woodstock had no clue why but he always followed Mortifer's orders.

"Do have any idea who I am?" Sally asked.

"Your Princess Sally, daughter of King Nigel Acorn, current leader of the Freedom Fighters." Mortifer replied coldly.

"And who are you and this robot? And are you working for Robotnik?" Sally continued to question.

"Woodstock of the 23rd Phantom Battalion, Numbers 1241997, Heavy Weapons Specialist. And this-" Woodstock was cut off when Mortifer suddenly slammed his fist into the table, leaving a massive dent. Woodstock looked at Mortifer, then his fist, then back to Mortifer. "Oh, my bad. It's classified."

"You don't need to know who we are. All you need to know is we are willing to negotiate without making a mess." Said Mortifer.

"You expect us to just, let you walk out of here with the location of Knothole?" Sally asked sarcastically as the Lynx beside her became worried.

"I expect, you to agree with our terms if you value the lives of everyone in Knothole." Mortifer replied and stood up. Opening her mouth to say something, Sally and the Lynx all of a sudden couldn't move at all. And were forced to watch as Mortifer drew his knife and walked behind them.

"I really don't have to negotiate, I could kill everyone in this village with a flick of a finger and leave without a scratch." Mortifer said while running his hand along the knife's blade. "The only reason I haven't done that is because, I'm feeling, generous you could say. So here are my conditions." The table bent under the pressure as his knife was thrown and stuck stuck deep into it. "You won't ever try to find us, and leave us alone. In return we won't attack your caches or people. That's my terms."

"He's not kidding by the way." Woodstock piped in.

"You have one hour to make your decision." Picking up Both of the girls Mortifer flung them outside the room and slammed the door shut. Seeing what happened, the two guards by the door shrugged at each other and continued standing there.

"I have identified the one called Woodstock, and possibly his companion. His name is Mortifer Mathias Messores, leader of the Phantom Battalion and a highly decorated and skilled soldier from the Overlander war. The large one is Woodstock, second in command of the Phantom Battalion and lone surviving test subject of a top secret cybernetic project." Nicole stated.

Stomping towards the door Sally growled "He thinks he can boss us around, I'll show him!" And stepped inside just as Amy arrived with Vanilla, Blackjack and Sonic.

"Nicole! Where's Sally!?" Amy questioned urgently

"She just went back in to talk with the two hedgehogs." The Lynx replied. Almost immediately after she said that, yelling was heard inside the room and seconds later, Sally skidded backwards out the door.

"Sally! Wait!" Amy yelled as she grabbed Sally's arm to stop her from going back in. "Blackjack needs to tell you something important about those two!"

"I'm getting paid to tell this information right?" Blackjack asked. After everyone stared at him in silence, he sighed "Fine, but I'm doing this for free once, and only once." As he started explaining who the two hedgehogs were, their past with Cream and her mother, and the current situation. Vanilla went inside the room to speak to Mortifer.

"Blackjack is explaining everything to them so, you shouldn't be stuck in this room for much longer." Vanilla said as she sat down.

"Did he know you were here?" Mortifer asked.

"No, not until a few minutes ago." Vanilla answered.

"Once this is over with we'll need a place to stay." Mortifer said and picked up his knife and sheathed it.

"You're welcome to stay at my house. I could put a bed in the basement for Woodstock, and you could use the spare bedroom...Woodstock are you okay?" Vanilla asked in concern as Woodstock glared at nothing in particular.

Rolling his eyes Mortifer leaned back in his chair "Woodstock, you only need to be intimidating when other people besides Vanilla, Cream, or Blackjack are here." Woodstock's glare instantly became a smile as he started spinning his minigun barrel again.

"There's no need for intimidation Mortifer, these are good friends that I trust." Vanilla stated. Raising an eyebrow Mortifer replied "You know I don't trust anyone, except a select few." Frowning at Mortifer, Vanilla sighed and waited patiently for Blackjack to finish explaining everything to everyone. After what seemed like hours of waiting to Woodstock, Blackjack finally walked through the door with a smile on his face.

"Good news, we have successfully explained everything to them about you and Woodstock. Including how you saved Cream and lost an eye because of it, so most of them somewhat trust you, More or less."

"And the bad news?" Asked Mortifer. "Some are still pretty ticked about you attacking them."

"Do they know that I never killed their sniper?"

"I made up a story about that weasel Nack, and that I heard him blabbering about being paid to act as a KFF fighter so they would quit trying to find you. But because I wasn't a hundred percent sure if he was making it up or not, I didn't inform Sally and them until now."

"You lost your eye protecting Cream?" Vanilla gasped as she started tearing up. Shooting a glare at Blackjack, Mortifer answered

"It was because I made a tactical error while protecting her, I should have known Robotnik would send his Shadowbot prototypes."

"Excuse me." Mortifer scowled as Nicole, Sally, and Amy stepped in. "But did you say you've encountered the SB-1 prototypes?" Nicole questioned

"Yeah, but we took those down easy peasy. We have Robotnik's personal ship, that we stole from his very large bedroom. And it can do really cool stuff like cloak where he can't detect us, hundreds of guns that can be controlled by an autopilot that flies the ship. Which I call BOB. It also has a really big computer where we can hack into all of Robotnik's computers and get any data we want and decrypt it in seconds. So we already knew their weakness way before they were built. We do that everytime he starts building new robots."

"Can't Robotnik detect your signals?" Sally asked.

"Yep, but I rigged the system to bounce our location randomly so it gets confusing. Trust me, when I forgot where we parked once even I couldn't track it. Ain't that right Mort…" Woodstock stopped mid sentence as Mortifer glared at him. "My bad, again."

Shoving everyone out again except Blackjack and Vanilla. Mortifer turned and said to both of them "There, now I can talk to both of you in peace."

 **A/N Update: I meant to put the argument between Blackjack in a later chapter. I also added a better description of Nicole.**


	13. Chapter 12

**A/N: Sorry for taking so long to get a chapter up, as always constructive criticism and suggestions are always welcome**

"So, that's your uncle that's been missing for years?" Tails asked Cream as both of them watched Mortifer tinker with a piece of metal while they stood in one of knotholes aircraft hangers. Tails had just been informed about the incident last night this morning and immediately went to check on Cream, and to see her uncles that everyone was talking about. "How did his eye get injured?" Tails asked, and regretted doing so as Cream started sniffling and looked away from Mortifer.

"He, he took a bullet that was aimed at me. And now he won't be able to see out of that eye again." She answered.

"S-sorry, I didn't know." Tails guiltily stuttered 'Great! She was happy and just reunited with her uncles and you just had to ruin it for her! Way to go!' He mentally chastised himself while putting a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Hey! I haven't gotten the chance to meet your uncles, could you introduce them to me? That is, if you don't mind?" Tails quickly changed the subject to try and avoid upsetting Cream further.

"I don't mind at all, he's a very nice person and the best uncle in the world." She replied and perked back up.

Watching from where he was standing, Mortifer frowned as the two children headed towards him. Attaching the small piece of metal to the back of his head, He stood up and crossed his arms. Was it really necessary for everyone in Knothole to come bother him? It was getting annoying after having to go to a meeting with their Generals to listen to hundreds of incompetent questions. Then have to listen to people who came by just to see what the "Phantoms" looked like.

Mortifer wondered what was so interesting about himself that all these people had to get a look at him. He's a hedgehog, with one eye, lots of weapons, that lived in Robotropolis, and was thought by many to be nothing but a myth. What could possibly be so interesting about that?

"Uncle Mort, this one of my best friends. His name is Miles Tails Prowler." Extending his hand, Tails smiled nervously as her uncle stared at him.

"Mortifer." He said while shaking Tails hand with a very, very tight grip. "I trust that you treat Cream as good as she treats you?" Trying his best not to grimace in pain from Mortifers tightening grip. Tails nodded vigorously and answered with a "Yes sir."

"Good." Releasing Tails hand, Mortifer leaned back and crossed his arms again.

"Uncle Mort, I was wondering …" Cream asked and looked up at Mortifer with those big, innocent baby eyes. "If you don't mind letting Tails inside your ship so he could study Robotnik's tech? it would help him become a better engineer. And maybe Uncle Woodstock could show him a few things?" glancing back at Tails Mortifer, contemplated on whether it would be a tactical error or not.

'He could be a spy to find out everything that knothole doesn't know about us, including hidden supplies and weapon caches.' Mortifer thought to himself and continued to study Tails. 'But, his eyes are that of a still young and naive child, and he is Creams long time best friend…'

"On three conditions." Mortifer said to Tails. "One, you don't break anything, two you don't go through the door marked with a skull. And three DO NOT PUSH ANY BUTTONS. Deal?"

"Deal!" Tails answered excitedly and quickly made his way with Cream to the ship.

"Kids, so ignorant of the things wrong with the world." Mortifer muttered as he watched them run inside the ship.

Going through several doors Cream guided Tails to Woodstock's room. Seeing that the door was open she knocked on the wall out of politeness. Receiving no response, both curiously looked in to see Woodstock's back to them as he tinkered with something.

"Woah!" Tails said in astonishment as they walked in, carefully avoiding the random things covering the floor. "Look at all these gadgets and gizmos!" While Tales followed beside her amazed by Woodstock's things, Cream tried getting her uncle's attention again.

"Uncle Woodstock! Uncle Woodstock I have a friend who wants to meet you!" Only to still, receive no response from him. Motioning to Cream if it was okay if he tapped her uncle to gain his attention Cream gave a shrug and nodded. Doing one quick tap on Woodstock's back Tails then introduced himself.

"Hi my name is-" Tails was suddenly cut off when in a blurred motion Woodstock spun around, picked him up, and held him against the wall as he drew a large knife the size of the young fox. "Ta...T...Tails." he finished. Woodstock held him for moment, then grinned as he dropped Tails and sheathed his knife

"Hi, I'm Woodstock. Nice to meet you!" he said as he shook Tails hand.

"Uncle Woodstock! What's gotten into you!" cried Cream in dismay as she ran to Tails who was still trying to figure out what just happened, and checked him for any injuries.

"Sorry, reflexes. Morty says I was programmed with "Extreme Reaction and Reflex Enhancement". I kinda just do things without thinking, My bad."

"Is it true you're a robot?" Tails asked completely forgetting what just happened as he looked up at the behemoth of a hedgehog.

"Cybernetic! Not a robot! And yes I am." He answered with pride.

"Do you mind, showing me some of your gadgets?"

"Sure!" Picking up what looked liked a metal wristband from the floor Woodstock slapped it on tails arm and pushed a button.

"This is incredible!" Tails exclaimed as the device made his entire body invisible. Grinning Woodstock picked up another device as he said "It creates a holographic illusion around your body."

"Which makes you invisible! Cool!" Tails finished.

"It can also disguise you as another person." Woodstock added and removed the wrist band.

"What else you got?" Tails asked excitedly as he started looking at the gadgets on the floor.

"This." Raising a small shield like device above his head Woodstock pushed a button. And it extended down into a metal dome around him. Examining the metal and structure, Tails was in awe of the material it was made from.

"This metal is a titanium alloy! Where did you get it from!?"

Deactivating it Woodstock replied "Oh, in different scrap yards. That's where I get most of my stuff." And Carelessly threw the shield. Tails and Cream were barely able to duck in time as it ricocheted off the walls and flew over their heads. Before stopping with a loud clang. "If I only I could put a star on it." Woodstock said to himself as he removed the shield that had been embedded in his shoulder joint. "Sadly, someone in spandex patented it. Anyways!" Dropping the shield he threw a small device to Tails. "It's a prototype that I've been working on for Morty. Though I did have some minor setbacks after it got fried when that factory blew up on him. Push the red button to activate it." Doing as Woodstock said. Tails was immediately inside a round energy shield.

"So this is how he survived the explosion after fighting Sonic." He thought aloud as he opened it up and looked at the components inside it. Maybe Creams mother was right. Maybe the reason Mortifer and Woodstock attacked them, was because they wanted to stay out of the war. So they done things to discourage any attempt of finding or contacting them. And only disrupted KFF operations when it kept them from getting resources they desperately needed.

"WOULD YOU LIKE TO HELP ME MAKE SOMETHING FOR MORTY'S EYE?" Woodstock interrupted Tails thoughts as he pressed his mouth against the bubble shield like a suction cup and talked loudly so he could be heard through it.

'And to think this is the person that we were scared of when he took our bomb.' Tails mused and answered Woodstock's question with a nod. Maybe Creams uncle could teach him more about Robotization to help de-roboticize Sonic's uncle Chuck, and everyone else. But first he needed to learn everything Woodstock knows about Robotnik's tech.

"So…while we're making something for your brother, can you teach me what you know about Robotnik's tech?" Tails asked after deactivating the shield and walking to Woodstock who was tinkering with a small piece of metal.

"Sure! I'll tell you everything I know about that bald dudes technology." While her uncle and Tails started excitedly running on in extreme scientific details about things inside the robots, and how Robotnik's computers firewalls worked. She noticed that in the corner of his room by the hammock, Woodstock's junk was cleared away from a picture frame laying flat on the floor.

Picking it up Cream smiled, for it had Mortifer and Woodstock, smiling, even though they had several wounds wrapped in bandages. As they stood by a shot up helicopter smiling. And On the bottom of it the words " _ **Battle of Peace Valley."**_ Had been scribbled on it. Setting it back down Cream hoped that someday, she could see Mortifer truly happy again.

 **A/N: The last chapter I just noticed I put something that was supposed to go in a later chapter in there, my bad.**


	14. Chapter 13

**A/N: I tried keeping Sonic and Sally in character the best I could. Hopefully I did a decently good job at it. Thx to my proofreader GorrillaBub, and as always suggestions and constructive criticism is appreciated.**

"I don't know Nicole, most of them don't agree with how I handled the situation with Vanilla's friends." Sally huffed as her and the Lynx walked down a hallway that was busy with soldiers going back and forth. issuing commands and relaying request from the frontlines to their superiors.

"You handled it to the best of your ability for such a, complicated situation. Though I do not approve of Mortifer's high aggression levels and threats...our men did try killing his brother. Which would cause anyone to react with such extreme force and rash behavior." Nicole Assured her.

To say Sally was having a couple of rough days, would be an understatement in her mind. As soon as they came to an agreement with Vanillas friends and let them be. An emergency meeting was called by Sally's Generals who were not too happy about what went down. She explained to them, just like Vanilla had to her. That they didn't mean any harm and only wanted to ensure that someone close to them had made it safely back home. And that the only reason a fight had broken out was because the guards thought one was a robot spy sent by Robotnik. Immediately after her explanation several questions arose like

"How can we trust them?"

"Why should we trust them because their friends of someone you know?"

"How did he freeze everyone?"

Thankfully, that's when Nicole stepped in to assist her. She answered that several trusted freedom fighters stated they knew them before the war and were good hedgehogs. Nicole also mentioned that they were highly decorated soldiers during the Overlander war. And had even been assigned as bodyguards to the King, Sally's father. While that relieved most of the generals, some were still skeptical.

One asked "Then why have they been attacking us all these years? They have been Sabotaging our operations, and even went as far out as to attack Sonic, your boyfriend."

This, was the hardest part of the meeting. For Sally had to grudgingly admit after a lot of thinking, and some convincing by Vanilla. That had Mortifer not hit Sonic, he probably wouldn't have payed attention to the bomb's timer and could have ended up critically wounded, or dead. So the black hedgehog had in a way, saved Sonic. Then she explained the only reason they sabotaged their missions, was because the KFF was unknowingly destroying supplies they needed. After that explanation they moved on to a short discussion about his large companion, before requesting to meet them in person.

Surprisingly it was, easy. She asked and he agreed to go, but only him. Mortifer told Woodstock to stay with Vanilla and Cream while he took of care of, some business. Once inside the room Mortifer stood at attention, put his hands behind his back, and looked at each individual in the room with a blank stare. For several minutes no one said a word, then abruptly he spoke in a gruff monotone voice. What he told the generals was almost everything Sally had already said, which got them nowhere in their argument about the two hedgehogs. Even after asking Mortifer many questions. So they dismissed him, and ended the meeting saying they needed more time before deciding what to do.

"It isn't just aggressiveness Nicole, it seemed almost like, he was just filled with nothing but pure rage and, hatred. It's hard to imagine him being the person Vanilla and all the others make him out to be. And the council isn't going to believe it unless someone _they_ trust, confirms this i nformation and says the two of them aren't a threat." Sally said bitterly. It was aggravating how someone almost always didn't trust her judgement. Even after proving herself right time and time again they never respected her like her father.

Nigel, everyone respected him. In a room full of bickering officials all he needed to do was to say something, and they would stop and listen. The same went for her mother, who died with Sally's brother when Overlanders shot their helicopter down. If her parents were still alive she'd be asking how they managed to handle all the kingdoms problems, and raise a family without going crazy. She didn't know how her Father dealt with the loss of his wife and son, ended the overlander war, and still managed to make time for her. Whenever he had spare time Maximus would play with her, and do silly things even in front of royal officials just to make Sally laugh and keep her mind off her dead mother and brother. Oh how she missed those days.

"If someone like him backs you up, then I doubt any of the generals will question your decision." Nicole finished saying while Sally was zoned out. "I'll go talk to him right away for you." Running her hand through her auburn hair Sally stopped, and scrunched her eyebrows in confusion as she came back to reality and tried grasping what Nicole had just said.

"Wait, what?" Looking around Sally sighed. For Nicole was already gone in the mass of people, doing something that Sally had unknowingly agreed with. "I really need a day away from all this." She groaned while rubbing her temples.

"Ma'am, the 101st airborne are requesting supplies at a landing zone they secured in Las Megas. Their about to try breaking through enemy lines and hitting a major POW facility." A cat asked her that was wearing a headpiece with a mic, like everyone else in the room. She must have walked into the communications hub without knowing too.

"Uh, tell them our warehouses are running low, but we'll send what we can to help." Sally answered. Nodding the cat started sending an encoded message back as another operator called for Sally.

"Fifty first battalion has taken major casualties after a surprise attack by H.A.S(heavily armored Swatbots) units and is about to lose one of our major strongholds in Souerica. Do I order them to pull out?"

"No. Tell them to hold out as long as possible. We have Armored vehicles and aircraft enroute to help hold the fort." Looking at the clock on the wall she remembered that there was somewhere she was supposed to be with someone. But couldn't quite remember what it was.

"Mewish scouts just finished a recon at the cemetery outside Malingrad, and reported that the information was false. There's no secret robot factory anywhere."

Racking her brain to try and remember where she was supposed to be Sally ordered "Have them double check the ground in the cemetery for any secret passages. The information was confirmed by an inside source so I know it's there."

Closing her eyes in concentration, Sally felt a sudden strong gush of wind, then heard a...violin? Opening her eyes she was taken back at the sight of a fancy restaurant filled with joyful couples eating and talking quietly to each other. That's when it finally clicked. She was supposed to have dinner with Sonic! How could she forget!

"Once again, I have to save the princess from the clutches, of boringness...and lateness." Sonic said while leaning on a table, and spinning a chili dog on his gloved finger.

Laying her on head on the table she was seated at from exhaustion, Sally mumbled "I'm so sorry Sonic, I can't believe I forgot about our plans for tonight. Ugh! I should have remembered!" Apologetically.

"Don't sweat it Sall, I know how crazy it gets sometimes. Heck I'm surprised you're sanitys still intact with everything that's happened recently that you had to deal with." Sonic comforted and put his hand on Sally's as he started eating the chili dog.

"Thanks." Sally said as she glanced up at Sonic and smiled a little. Picking up a fork, Sally blew a strand of loose hair out of her face and started eating a salad that Sonic had ordered for her while he finished off his chili dog.

"Since my day has been filled with nothing but "boringness", why don't you tell me how you're days been?" She suggested.

Leaning back and rocking his chair Sonic started telling her about some of his recent missions in Robotropolis. "Okay, This one mission, we were trying to get through a security door that wouldn't open. So Antione thought it was a good idea to show off to bunnie, you know cause he has a crush on her. By stabbing it with his sword to open it, like some hero did in an old movie they recently watched."

They were interrupted as a waiter asked if they needed anything. Telling him they were good, Sally motioned for Sonic to continue his story.

"We tried warning him about the outcome of sticking a metal pole into a electrical box, but nooo he had to show off."

"Sounds like someone I know." Sally teased and snickered.

Rolling his eyes playfully Sonic grinned and retorted back "Hey I can't help that I'm the definition of the word Awesome. Now quit interrupting my story." And flicked a crumb at Sally as he continued. "So we stepped back as he plunged that sword in it. And Antoine got zapped so bad, man he lit up like a Christmas tree and just bounced everywhere. It was, hilarious!" Both of them laughed at Antoine's misfortune, for it hadn't been the first time he tried showing off to bunnie only for it to backfire on him.

"Poor Antoine." Sally chuckled as she took a sip from her glass and swished the drink around. "So did the Swatbots find you after Antoine's, mishap?"

"Na, Rotor finally hacked the door so it would stop zapping Antoine before someone heard him yelling."

"Sonic."

"Yeah?"

"Rotor doesn't even know how to hack a Mbox 360."

'Oh she's gonna be pissed if she finds out' Sonic thought to himself. As he tried his best to act normal.

"Just recently, He thought it'd be best if he learned how to hack since it is something we do on most of our missions." He said as Sally gave him a look like 'Really? That's the best story you could come up with' then propped her head up with her hand and sipped the drink again before sighing

"You've been taking Tail on missions ever since I said he couldn't go. Haven't you?" Grinning sheepishly Sonic shrugged and defended himself

"Well we can't exactly get past Robotnik's security without him. And he was so depressed!"

"Uh huh. More like you missed having someone that could stand your quote "Supreme Awesomeness" unquote."

"You said he couldn't go with those phantom dudes out their. And we ain't gotta worry about that anymore now that we have a truce with them. Though, I still want a rematch with the creepy one." Sonic replied.

"We may have a truce, but they still can't be trusted. Not until they prove otherwise. Now quit trying to change the subject." Sally reminded him as she dabbed her mouth with a napkin. "Even with me stressing out all the time from, commanding the resistance, making sure Robotnik doesn't find Knothole, and! Trying to make sure you and my friends make it home in one piece! You still go behind my back, again, and take him with you anyways!"

"You're not going to let this go, are you." He groaned and banged his head on the table.

Crossing her arms Sally frowned and replied "Nope."

Looking up at her dramatically with his innocent big eyes, Sonic asked "Even if I show you a surprise?"

"It isn't the kind of surprise that makes me want to kill you is it?" She asked skeptically and sipped the last bit of her drink and set the empty glass down.

Standing up Sonic reached into a pouch beside him and pulled out a wad of rings to pay for the food and, give a good sized tip.

"The kind of suprise that will leave you saying how RAD I am." Sonic boasted then scooped up Sally and took off running through Knothole. She thought about saying something sarcastic back at him, but decided against it.

For Sonic was renowned for not being able to stand still for even a moment. And yet, he had sat down to eat a nice dinner with her as long as he possibly could without complaint so she would stop stressing about everything. Though she did notice his antsiness near the end of their dinner. No doubt the amount of time he sat still in a chair tonight was new record, and yes they had a record book for that.

As Sonic skidded to a halt and sat her down, Sally immediately recognized where they were. Their sanctuary, complete with weeping willows, a small waterfall that ran into a clean pond for swimming. And the only noise that could be heard, was the sweet sound of two of them would often go here to relax together without being disturbed.

"Yo! Corporal Orrison! Bring it out!" Sonic yelled as he started tapping his foot. A rustling noise came from underneath one of the weeping willows. And then a green chameleon wearing a battered military helmet and clothes came out. carrying a stand, with a large painting on it that was covered with a white sheet.

"Here ya go sir." The chameleon said and sat the stand down.

"Uh, Orrison? Wrong direction." Sonic pointed out to the lizard.

"Huh? Oh! My bad." Orrison apologized as he picked it back up and turned it around. "Too many bullets ta da head tend to...do strange things ta a person." He told them, before both his eyes looked in completely opposite directions.

Leaning over to Sally Sonic whispered. "Yeeeah, Orrison may be a little odd, but he's a heck of a painter for a soldier."

"Let me guess, it's a painting of you?" Sally asked as she stared at the large painting.

"Incorrect! You have two more guesses to win this marvelous prize." Sonic answered and smirked.

Tapping her chin in thought Sally asked "does it have the two of us in?"

"Close! But incorrect. One last chance so make it count!"

"It has us, and all our friends?"

"Something even better." Sonic answered then motioned for the lizard to reveal it to her. As he yanked away the sheet, Sally's eyes welled up in tears.

"I-I remember that picture. It was the day my dad surprised us by taking an entire day off from his royal duties and took us to the fair. We played games together, r-rode rides and, it was the one of the best days I ever had with them...and one of the last days I was with my mother, and brother." She sniffled.

The painting looked as if it was the picture itself of Sally, her Father, mother, and brother standing together laughing at the fair from how much detail was put into it. The artist even had painted the scratch mark on one of her brothers buttons that you would have to squint just to see. Orrison in her opinion, had somehow managed to flawlessly paint every little detail, and probably spent months working on this one painting.

"How?" Sally asked as she walked to the painting, and had to refrain herself from touching the faces of her family.

"Well we were going through the palace when we found a secret vault that was broken into. Whoever broke into it took everything your father stored in there, except…" Sonic pointed at the painting "This picture. And I knew how much it would mean to you since all of the photos of your family got destroyed, and it's been seven and a half years since you saw them." hugging Sonic by the neck Sally joyfully started crying.

"Uh, should I?" The chameleon asked awkwardly and motioned if he should go.

"Ye-y." Sonic tried answering as Sally choked him, then just nodded yes. "Thankyouthankyouthankyou!" Sally gushed.

"Neeeed! Oxygen!" Sonic gasped as his face turned as blue as his quills.

"Oh!" Sally exclaimed in realization, and immediately released her death grip on Sonic.

"You know." He gasped as he filled his lungs with oxygen "When you say you love me to death Sall it doesn't mean you need to literally, kill me with love."

"Thank you!" she cried joyfully agian as Sonic wrapped his arms around her.

"Anything for you Sall." He replied lovingly.

As the two stood there hugging each other, neither of them saw a hedgehog in the trees as he quickly left unseen.

 **A/N: yeeeaaah, mushy stuff isn't something I prefer writing. But hey, doesn't hurt to practice writing things like that so you can become a better author.**

 **P.S: thx for favoriting Chinerpeton :D**


	15. Chapter 14

**A/N:** **Hey readers! Yeah I know it's been awhile, but things are slowing down now that winter is coming so I should be able to work on this story more. Also a heads up, some parts of this is written by my proofreader GorrillaBub. He wanted to try his hand at writing, so I let him write several parts of this chapter to help him out. Constructive criticism for both of us is greatly appreciated, and I hope you guys enjoy this chapter. :)**

 _ **Chapter 14**_

 _ **0700 hours.**_

A trumpet sounded and echoed throughout Knotholes training grounds as a older Bulldog that was the drill Sergeant and dressed in a standard uniform barked. "Alright you worthless hides! Roll call! All personnel not accounted for will be put on KP duty!"

Turning the Sarge was startled to see "The Cy-Bot". A new arrival that had been given the nickname by Knothole forces. Why? The sergeant had no idea, and didn't care as long he did what he was told. And currently he was the first one to be standing at perfect attention and awaiting orders. While the rest of the troops slowly formed up, and gawked at the size of the massive hedgehog.

"Ten-Hut! Give me thirty push-ups!" The troops immediately dropped and began doing push-ups. But Cy-Bot was done in seconds, and had the Sergeant not been there and seen it he wouldn't have believed it. It took thirty to forty seconds for the rest of the recruits to finish. This, Cybot looked like a very promising soldier to the Sergeant.

"Private Ryan! Front and center soldier!" A small squirrel quickly scrabbled beside the Sergeant, snapping a salute.

"Yes sir?" He asked as he nervously glanced towards the large hedgehog.

"Today's assignments." The Sarge barked as the Squirrel fumbled with a clipboard. "Today Private! Today!" The Sarge growled as the squirrel quickly handed him the clipboard. Glancing down at the paperwork the Sergeant frowned. He then threw the clipboard in the air behind him as he yelled "Target practice today! Let's see if you can actually hit the targets this time!" Meanwhile Private Ryan was scurrying behind him trying to pick up the papers that had been scattered.

"Ten-hut! Face left! hut two three four! Hut two three…" The sarge continued as the troops marched in formation to the shooting range. A few minutes later the group sat on benches as the Sergeant walked in front of them, with Private Ryan following him, carrying a pile of weapons.

"All right Recruits! We are fighting a war! And how do we win a war?" Pausing for a moment, he quickly continued before anyone could answer "By knowing how to fight! I served the AKF (Acorn Kingdom Forces) In the Overlander war. So I've picked up thing or two. That said I've been instructed to teach you patch of fur balls how to do so." The Sergeant turned and snatched up a weapon from Private Ryan. "Can anyone tell me what this is?" He questioned as he held it high for all to see. Cy-bot raised his hand.

"Yes Private?" The Sergeant said as he pointed it toward him.

"Sir! That is a BXC- 200 rifle sir! Standard issued firearm to the Dingo Military. Fires a bullet caliber of 5.45mm at the range of 800 meters. Standard mag is thirty rounds sir!" Cy-bot said. The Sergeant was pleased, for the moment anyways.

"Excellent private, you may make a good soldier yet." He then tossed the gun down and grabbed another. "Who else can tell me what weapon this is?" Cybot raised his hand again. "Yes son?" The Sergeant said as he pointed at him again.

"Sir that is a SB-47, standard issued weapon of Swat-Bots model 4937…" The Hedgehog continued. Naming every weapon and firearm the Sarge presented. After a while the Sergeant set down the last weapon.

"I'm impressed, what's your name soldier?" He asked.

"Woodstock sir."

"Well, I like you Private Woodstock. So how bout you be the first to go on the range?" The Sergeant asked as he held up a bow and a quiver of arrows. Woodstock stood up, retrieved the weapons from the dog then went to the shooting range.

"Now listen up Freshies! Guns are always a better choice. But are hard to do find. So a good go to weapon is a bow. They can be effective at close range, but you have to aim for the battery pack to do any damage to a SWATBOT. it's located…" The Sergeant continued to explain how to fight as Woodstock fired arrows at various targets, hitting everyone with exact precision.

Finishing up the Sarge turned and stopped mid-sentence as he stared at the targets behind him. Woodstock had hit every target. And was continuing to do so, splitting the arrows that were in the targets with new ones. Woodstock checked his quiver for more arrows and Upon realizing he was out, he dropped the bow and grabbed two pistols off a table beside him, and began to fire with one in each hand. Hitting the various targets simultaneously.

"Impossible." Private Ryan muttered. As everyone stopped what they were doing and watched Woodstock quickly fire a weapon, drop it, and grab another one as he shredded the targets.

"Cease fire!" The sergeant yelled and stared in amazement. Setting the weapons back on the table Woodstock stood at attention as the Bulldog walked up to him.

"Never in my entire career have I seen something like, like what I just saw. Where in the world did you learn to shoot like that?" he questioned Woodstock.

"I am a cybernetic war machine sir!" Woodstock answered. "Which means I can do really cool stuff. Like having pinpoint accuracy with weapons, infrared vision, night vision, hack things in seconds, impersonate voices, make gadgets, weapons, and bombs in minutes, aaaaaand I'm invincible to boot."

So he was the cybernetic super soldier that everyone was talking about! Instead of being afraid of him like most however. The sergeant thought of ways Woodstock could help prepare his men for combat. Sure he didn't know the details about what went down between the cyborg and KFF guards. But he was declared an ally by Sally, which was good enough for him.

"How many tours you serve soldier?"

"Five, if you only count the Overlander war. Not really sure you could count surviving this war against Robotnik since we're not for any side."

Scratching his head in confusion the dog questioned "Then what in the world are you doing training with these rookies instead of our special forces?" Opening his mouth to say something Woodstock paused, then rubbed his chin in thought.

"That's an excellent question. Mort, why I am doing basic training?" Woodstock turned away and whispered .

" _To evaluate Knothole's military training. And so I can talk and spend time with Vanilla, without you breaking anything. Just act like another drill sergeant and get as much data as you can."_ Mortifer answered him over his communicator.

"To evaluate Knothole's military training." Woodstock answered and put his hands behind his back. "And I can see that these boys need some more, realistic combat situations."

"What do you have in mind?" The sergeant asked.

"Live fire training, with a minigun." Woodstock replied. As both them smiled mischievously and looked at the troops. After seeing the two of them smiling like that, the recruits were already afraid of what they were planning to do.

"How accurate did ya say you were?"

"Oh, I could give em haircuts with the bullets and not even touch their skin."

* * *

"Tails said he believes Woodstock is at the shooting range. So there is a high probability that his brother is with him." Nicole the Lynx said. To someone walking beside her. With Sally's permission, she had found and asked for help from one of the last surviving generals of the Overlander war. General Mik Douglas, who was also known as Flanking Mik Douglas. Because his tactics mostly consisted of flanking in the most, unexpected places.

Mik Douglas fought in most of the war and was involved in many Black ops missions. Which earned him a high respect from the Army His days on the battlefield came to an end however when, Overlander forces shot his leg multiple times while trying to capture him in the battle of Rosetown. Friendly forces were able to stop the Overlanders and extract Mik Douglas. But his wounds left him having to use a cane to walk for the rest of his life, forcing him to retire.

"So you know these two?" Nicole questioned. And looked at the brown and black German shepherd dressed in blue jeans, and a grey short sleeve shirt, walking beside her on a cain.

"Until I have visual confirmation. NO. I do not know them." Mik Douglas answered her bitterly.

Taken back slightly from his ongoing hostility towards her since they met. Nicole scanned him discreetly to see why he acted the way he did. The scan showed zero on all results relating to pain or being ill that would affect Douglas's behavior. Perhaps it was his wounds, or loss of fellow soldiers in combat? She had seen seen similar behavior from soldiers due to such things. Regardless of his behavior, Nicole knew that she would have to keep asking questions, to help them understand who they were truly dealing with.

"Are they old friends of yours?"

snarling in irritation, he mumbled something under his breath.

"You're military record shows that you worked with them in several special operations. Including Black Veil, an operation in the Overlander capital that killed several key officials. Which many believed turned the tide of the war into the Acorn Kingdoms favor." Nicole pressed on.

"And the media, the king, and his council cut us down for how we did it. Saying it was inhuman!" He barked loudly "Inhuman! Those scum deserved a worse death than what we gave em. For all the unspeakable things they did to thousands of innocent, unarmed, civilians."

Falling silent for a few minutes, Nicole then asked. "How exactly were they killed? It doesn't specify the details in the file."

"Mortifer slit their throats. Made an example out of them by showing the world that their government, was powerless to stop them from killing anyone under their protection." He stated nonchalantly. She was starting to get increasingly worried by how brutal they could be.

"Is the information correct that they cleared the buildings one hundred floors. Guarded by the royal guards, without sounding the alarm?"

"Yes. With only their knifes and their bare hands." Nicole felt what She had heard described by mobians, as a chill up her hologram of a spine. Had these hedgehogs been trying to kill KFF fighters or worse, hired by Robotnik. The KFF military would be without many of its leaders, and suffering heavier casualties. Then morale would most certainly be low from seeing the brutal consequences of those, who defied them, and Robotnik. She was beginning to reconsider her first analysis of the two hedgehogs.

As they continued to walk the old dog began to tell of a story about a mission he Commanded with the hedgehogs once. "Ya going to bug me till I spit it out so might as well tell ya." Said Douglas with a sigh. "It all started like this, back when i was just a young pup eager to earn my stars…"

 **11** **1/2** **Years ago. Overlander war,**

 **Operation: Rolling Thunder.**

Various critters scurried around a small tent. Packed with computers and radio equipment. In the middle of it stood a dog, a general by his uniform. Standing over a map on a table. He was tracing his paw across to various markers on it. Some were blue, red, and black.

"General sir, Charlie 5 is 2 mikes out from the target zone." Said a mouse sitting by the radio. He had a headset to one ear and was scribbling rapidly on a notepad beside him.

"Right on time. Get me comms with them right away!" barked the general. A cat quickly ran up and handed him a headset. putting it on he asked "This is Nest 01 calling Charlie 5. You copy?" Moments later a static reply come in.

"10-4, in position to drop."

"Roger that Charlie 5, once you hit the ground you are on your own till we can push thru the lines." The general stated as he squinted at the map, tracing his paws across it again.

"This is Woodstock over. Don't worry, I'll leave a few Overuglys for your boys to play with." The General shook his head.

"Roger that Woodstock, happy hunting." Covering his mic the General muttered "Better be as good as they claim. Our men's lives depend on it."

 **Charlie 5,**

 **enroute to strike zone**

An explosion rocked the helicopter as it raced over the battlefield. The pilot turned his head and hollered to the group in the back. "Arriving at the Drop Zone. Prep for deployment!"

The commander of them, Mortifer, gave a thumbs up sign. This Signaled the rest of the squad to prep for drop. six soldiers began to check their weapons and armor.

Two of them were rabbits, covered in body armor with helmets concealing their face except for a thin visor down the center. Then there was a hound. Dressed similar to the first two except the oversized sniper rifle in his paws. Woodstock who was standing by the door with Mortifer, wore armor at least twice as thick as the rest of the team. On his shoulder was a rocket launcher that retracted against his back when not in use. His gun, was a minigun with the words " _Chainsaw"_ on the side. Mortifer had his standard black armor and retractable helmet, with a variety of weapons on him.

Facing the squad the Mortifer yelled. "Alright, the mission is to take out the AA Gun placement so the rest of the AK(Acorn Kingdom) can push up. Start with the gun crew, Then clear everyone else out, No prisoners. Am I clear?"

The rest of the squad replied in usion "Yes sir!"

"Good. Now Form up!" He ordered. The squad lined up by the doors as a green light suddenly began to flash.

"Go go go!" Yelled Mortifer as he jumped out the side of the chopper followed by his team. He rolled as he landed, shooting two Overlanders in the process.

"Mike, Peter, clear out placement one. George, Cover our tails. Woodstock, with me to placement two." Immediately the squad split up and began fighting towards their targets. Sending lasers everywhere as they went.

"MG nest! 3 o'clock Mortifer!" Hollered Woodstock as he began blasting the nest with his minigun. The nest returned fire but the lasers that hit his armor ricocheted harmlessly off him.

"Roger that Woodstock." Mortifer replied as he dashed forward in a blurred motion. Quickly clearing the nest with his rifle. "Cleared!" Mortifer said as he ducked behind some cover as a Overlander began shooting at him. Suddenly the Overlander jerked backward with a red mist. Followed by a echoing gunshot.

"You owe me a drink when we get back for that Mort." Stated the dog, named George as he bolted his sniper rifle.

"What about the last ops? We totally saved your tail. So we're even aren't we?" Asked Woodstock as he slowly walked forward, blasting any Overlander with enough courage to engage him.

"Yeah, he's got a point." Said Peter, one of the rabbits.

"Agreed" replied Mike, the other rabbit.

"Who asked your opinion ya long ears!" George remarked as he turned his gun slightly and shot another Overlander.

Quickly pushing forward, peter and mike cleared the gun emplacement of hostiles, And placed explosive charges on it.

"We cleared placement one. Hold our position Mort?" Asked Peter.

"Affirmative. We've almost reached placement two."

"10-4" peter replied. As Woodstock and Mortifer ran into an abandoned, war torn town.

Running past a group of overlander soldiers. Mortifer shot all of them in the head but one and yelled "Heads up!" At him.

The overlander began returning fire. Then suddenly, Woodstock, came running from behind him and slammed his minigun into the soldier's head. Shattering his helmet and smashing him through a nearby brick wall.

"Ha! Never gets old!" Woodstock laughed. As he ran through laser fire and, suppressed the enemy with his minigun, while Mortifer ran ahead. Pulling up the rocket launcher mounted on his back. Woodstock took aim at a building, and fired. Flying inside the shell exploded, blowing the entire building, and its occupants, apart.

"Total, and complete, annihilation." Woodstock proudly stated. then blew the smoke coming out of the bazooka barrel.

" _You let Mortifer go ahead just so you could blow something up, again, didn't you?"_ Peter asked. Over the comms, knowing that Woodstock's answer would be the same, as every other time.

"You know I can't pass up a good fight. Besides I'm sure Morty can handle it." Woodstock replied defensively.

" _I know Mortifer can handle it, heck, he could've taken out both guns, alone. But I still haven't gotten back at him for embarrassing me in front of Vanilla, when she visited HQ."_ Peter said. with a hint of mischief in his voice. Grinning, Woodstock started heading for the objective.

"Oooh, I'm in. I also have the perfect idea to help you get back at Mortifer." He cackled.

" _Make sure you get it on your helmet cam, so we can post it on U-2ube."_

"This is gonna be good!" Woodstock yelled enthusiastically.

Quickly arriving at the gun emplacement, Woodstock skidded to a halt. Mortifer had already placed the charges and was currently killing the last of the gun crew, with his pistol and knife.

"Prepare to detonate charges on my command." Mortifer ordered and stabbed the last Overlander in the chest, then fired a bullet into his head.

" _Ready to detonate."_ Peter Confirmed. Getting out of the blast radius by Woodstock, Mortifer gave the order

"Detonate."

A moment of silence followed, then an explosion, leaving nothing but a massive crater where the gun was.

"Target two neutralized, status of target one?" Mortifer asked. while putting his knife, and pistol away, and grabbing his assault rifle off his back.

" _Neutralization confirmed."_ Answered Peter. " _See ya at extraction."_

Mortifer was about to start running, but stopped when Woodstock yelled. "Hey! Morty!" Turning around, Mortifer's body started twitching violently As he was shot by Woodstock's gun, on the highest stun mode, at point blank range. While he twitched uncontrollably. Woodstock was rolling around on the ground, dying of laughter and recording it.

"Ha! I got you good Morty! Hahaha! Oh! This is gonna be a hit…on….uh-oh." His laughter was silenced as he started backing up, slowly, out of worry. As Mortifer, who was supposed to be unconscious, slowly worked his way towards Woodstock, one step at a time.

"I'M. GOING. TO. KILL. YOU!" Mortifer bellowed as his eyes burned with a fiery anger that made Woodstock, regret his decision to help Peter.

"Lord, I hope you have the strongest guardian angel protecting me!" Woodstock screamed as he ran for his life to the extraction point.

"This is Command, over, gimme a sit-rep."

Woodstock's radio crackled as he ran as fast as he could. Unfortunately that wasn't his strongest suit. "Yeeeeah… area secure and returning to-" there was loud, cracking sound. "Ouch! Busy at the moment! Leave a messa-" another crack. "Ouch bad idea, BAD IDEA! Suddenly the comm went silent.

"Woodstock! Report! What the blazes is going on down there! Woodstock!"

"This is Peter to Command over. the hedgehogs are having brother issues, All's good. Returning to base for debriefing."

"Copy that, Peter. Command Over and out!" Peter looked behind him just in time to see Mortifer shoulder Woodstock in a dead run, sending the massive hedgehog flying 15 feet into the air. As soon as Woodstock landed he tried to crawl away. But was suddenly picked up and flung against a building, then one across the street, then back to the first one. Meanwhile over to the side the rest of the team sat on a hill, watching as Mortifer continuously slammed Woodstock into the buildings.

"Bet he'll do it at least five minutes." George mumbled as he sat down and pulled out a MRE.

"Na, no more than two minutes tops." Commented Mike who walked next to George, he shoved a dead Overlander to the side and sat next to the dog.

"Well, I ain't getting involved in this one. I'd rather not die." Stated Peter with a smirk on his face as they all watched as Woodstock was constantly hit against walls, occasionally yelling something between impacts.

* * *

"Took them boys forever to get back due to that. But couldn't complain, since we got air support back, and they did something we'd been trying to do for weeks. Funny thing is, they were from the Phantom Battalion, The most feared mercenaries. And they laughed their heads off while doing that weird, Gangnam style dance, behind me when a reporter was trying to interview me."

"This hardly seems like Mortifer, his brother matches but from my analysis, Mortifer wouldn't do such things." Nicole asked in confusion and re-evaluated her analysis.

"Cause he's been through hell, that's why. Boy fought five, damned, years and by a miracle! Survived and held Ripper hill. It was really that battle that ended the war, and got the overlanders to negotiate because of how many soldiers they lost." Mic Douglas snarled. "He also crushed the medals they gave him at the ceremony when the war ended, with his boot in front of everyone. Then without saying a word, turned his back, clicked his heels, and left."

"But the report says that no one survived-" Nicole was abruptly interrupted when the ground shook, and a thundering explosion echoed across Knothole. They had arrived at the training camp.

Looking down both saw soldiers scurrying in one direction as bullets nicked their clothes and helmets, While the drill sergeant yelled at them and chewed them out. Woodstock also was yelling at them as he held his minigun in one hand, a bazooka in the other, and shot them both at the soldiers as they tried to get through obstacles and barbed wire.

"Looks like em." Douglas said with skepticism and stared at Woodstock.

"Oh! Hi Mic Ugly Douglas! Been awhile since I saw you! Looks like you even got uglier, good for you!" Woodstock yelled as he noticed Douglas and raised his bazooka in greeting."

"That's him alright. And When I get a hold of that blabbermouth, I'm gonna kick his hind end!" Douglas yelled at Woodstock. And hobbled at a surprising speed towards him.

"Yes! After all these years I'll finally get a good opponent to brawl!" Woodstock gleefully cried. Dropping the bazooka, Woodstock tossed the minigun to the sergeant, nearly toppling him over and charged towards Douglas.

As he tried his best to aim the minigun the sergeant heard someone scream. "MY LEG!"

"Shut your piehole!" he snapped. And fired a few extra rounds at that soldier.

As Woodstock and Mic Douglas tackled each other. Nicole was slightly baffled and concerned that they would injure each other, at least Douglas anyways.

"Is this truly necessary?" She questioned them as they rolled around on the ground hitting each other. "Wouldn't it be better to settle this without violence? To talk like civilized Mobians?"

"Talkings for politicians!" Douglas said as they stopped fighting for a second.

"Yeah! Wait, aren't they all dead?" Woodstock asked. Before Nicole could answer him, Douglas hit him on the head with his cane, and the fight resumed.

How was she supposed to respond to this situation? Sure, Nicole had seen fights before but nothing in her databanks showed her how to end one peacefully. Perhaps she could disable Woodstock, since he is cybernetic, and Douglas's hits could never put a dent his metal frame. Nicole would also have to find time later, so she could study his highly sophisticated CPU, with his permission of course.

Focusing, she started the process of hacking into his systems. Once complete, it would link them together and she would temporarily freeze his body.

"Hmm, that was easy." She stated as the process completed and was ready for her to link with Woodstock. Closing her eyes, Nicole remotely entered his system. "This is fascinati-AAAAAHHHH!" She Cried out in agony as her vision went white, and Woodstock's system began overloading her with memories, through his eyes and making Nicole feel the pain in each one.

"Hold The Line! HOLD THE LINE!" Mortifer's voice rang out over the sound of dying and screaming soldiers as explosions and bullets hit all around a trench he was in. "Their charging again! Ready knives and sidearms! Conserve your rifles ammo for the next wave!" Setting his minigun down Woodstock drew a large knife and hunkered down with everyone else that had their pistols readied, as Overlanders charged through the smoke towards them.

"Fire!" Mortifer Ordered. And everyone emptied their magazines, cutting down almost the entire wave, and adding more bodies to the blood covered ground.

"Knifes!" The remaining Overlanders jumped into the trench and were mercilessly stabbed and beaten to death.

Two overlanders Jumped down towards Woodstock trying to shoot him. Quickly reacting Woodstock leaped forward as they jumped down towards him and stuck his knife into one's stomach and allowed his weight to make the knife slice all the way up to his chest. Then yanked it out as the Overlander hit the ground and slowly died, covering Woodstock in blood. Grabbing the other Overlander Woodstock knocked his helmet off as he slammed him against the trenches wall and rammed the knife's blade into his heart. He slowly watched the light fade from the eyes of the young teenage soldier, a kid, he had killed. Woodstock felt a brief pang of guilt, but quickly pushed it aside and let go of the corpse as he watched for the next wave. While blood slowly filled the bottom of the trench.

Hundreds of more memories poured into Nicole as they flew through her eyes and mind. Another memory slowed down and played as Nicole felt an unbearable searing pain in her legs and entire body.

"Don't die on me, don't die on me. You're all I have left and we're gonna make it back, you hear me? I promise you both of us are gonna make it back." Mortifer's emotionally distraught voice pleaded to Woodstock. Woodstock's vision faded in it out as he was drug across the ground, every inch which was covered in dead bodies. The sound of his minigun barrel spinning without any bullets to shoot echoed across the silent battlefield. He couldn't stop his death grip from squeezing the trigger while he pointed at every little shadow that moved.

Letting out a shuddering breath and lowering his head, Woodstock stared at his lower body. Both his legs were gone, from the knee down and bullet holes riddled most of his torso. The other hand that wasn't holding the minigun was twisted in an unnatural position, no doubt the bones had been shattered. Suddenly his lungs seemed to shut down as he began choking and gasping for air as his world faded to black.

"WOODSTOCK! NO! NO! NO! Please! Don't leave me!" Then it flashed to a fourth memory.

Hundreds of voices chanted behind a curtain. Woodstock put on a helmet and grabbed a large electric guitar. Turning his head he looked at Mortifer as he done the same.

"This is gonna be the last one before we're deployed bro. Why not make it the best yet?" Woodstock asked as he stuck out his fist. As a announcer started speaking.

"And a special treat tonight. Welcome, THE GHOST AND THE FREAK!" Mortifer fist bumped and replied "Let's rock it."

"Father would kill us if he knew we played as a band" Woodstock commented as the curtains rose. They stepped forward in unison and began to play their instruments while the crowd screamed and cheered in delight.

Suddenly the feed stopped as Nicole cut the connection, and fell to her knees as her holographic body shimmered from her being on the brink of overloading. And her energy being depleted to almost nothing.

"What...happened? So much...so much...Data!" As Nicole looked up, Woodstock was standing in front of her with a half smile on his face.

"Yeeeah, coulda told you that was bad idea had you asked nicely." He said. And carefully helped her stand up.

"I don't understand, what happened?" Nicole questioned. As her databanks failed to find anything but fragments of the data that tried to overload her.

"When you tried to hack me, my system let you in on purpose so it could destroy the threat. By making millions of copies of my data, then repeatedly sending, and sending, and sending, all of it until KABOOM! Threat overloads. It's almost impossible to stop it and get inside my mind." Her systems gradually returned to normal, and she became fascinated when the information from scanning Woodstock was fully processed.

"You're Main CPU is a LIPS AI Robotnik Custom Chip. And the processor even contains three output links! Your internal CPU contains a system that is capable of executing mathematical logical enactment and an simultaneous analog neuro-connection between all components. Allowing you to react extremely quickly to certain situations. Then the Sub CPU! A Neo Super DFX Chip, containing a five link system connecting to all your major body components governs the power control system. And the Next Risk Chip Series III, with eight basic loading ports in each eye unit, utilizes RGB imaging in the optical area. The power sources inside you are a A 250cc, 4-valve Orgon Fusion Engine. Along with a Tesla Power Coil which produces electricity through electromagnetic induction. I've never seen such unique and complex parts. It's, fascinating! Especially the electronic voice box, with components allowing you to mimic voices you hear. But, why isn't there an internal communicator? Surely if they could build all of this, installing a communicator would be simple, and being for military purposes, essential."

"Due to my extremely heavy and thick armor, and parts, there wasn't any room for a communicator. So I have to put one in my ear." Woodstock explained.

Douglas facepalmed as they continued to rapidly talk in words that sounded like another language to him.

"I feel like I'm having to listen to politicians all over again." He complained. Stopping Woodstock's and Nicole's conversation.

"General now that you know that it really is them, I need you to inform the council and convince them that Woodstock and Mortifer are not our enemies. Since you said that seeing Woodstock was the only proof you needed." Nicole reminded him as she gave Douglas a pleading look.

Pointing a finger at her Douglas stated "You owe me, big time." And hobbled off on his cane to the command center, mumbling about having to deal with young punks. And wanting to punch the first council member that asked a stupid question in the face.

"I must ask, how can you be so happy, after all the indescribable horrors that you've been through? I'm surprised you don't act more like you're brother." Nicole mused. As she followed Woodstock back towards the training grounds. Woodstock simply shrugged.

"Meh, it's life. People die, and bad things happen sometimes that we can't stop, because it's beyond our control. Sure we get mad or sad about it but we can't change the past. Just gotta keep pushing forward like on a battlefield, till it's you're time to go." Arriving back at the live fire exercise, he casually picked up a weapon and began to disassemble it while watching the soldiers train.

"Never really got attached to anyone. Had no family growing up, Most of the people I did know ended up dead or gone, or who knows where." Woodstock then reassembled the weapon. "Even Father, my bad, Mortifer's father, I only knew a few years." Woodstock stopped what he was doing and looked at Nicole, with a grim expression on his face. "Life sucks man." Then suddenly grinned. "Ah heck, who cares anywho? Nobody lives forever! Well, except that old hedgehog that was always tinkering with things and always talking about his speedy nephew." He said to himself and stroked his chin. Nicole just shook her head, completely confused by his personality.

'So he was an orphan?' Nicole pondered this tidbit of information. It was impossible to scan his emotional levels due to it constantly changing. Ignoring that slight problem, Nicole thought of more questions to ask him while he was so willing to share. It would be foolish not to gain a better understanding of his brother, Mortifer, while she could. Since she had already accidentally, learned so much about Woodstock.

"Do you mind telling about your brother?"

"Oh sure, when he gets really, REALLY mad. Mortifer says I have NCSS, no common sense syndrome, though I don't think he really means it. He's just venting some of his pent up rage." While Woodstock continued talking, Nicole sat on the ground and listened intently. She was most definitely in for a long conversation.

 **A/N:** **Next chapter will include Knuckles :D. One of my favorite Sonic Characters, I hope I do him justice. Wish me luck!**

 **PS. I just now realized it looked like 111 years ago instead of a eleven and a half O_O**


	16. Chapter 15

**A/N: I just found out while browsing the Sonic Wikia that, Sally is a chipmunk... o_o I always thought she was a squirrel. Definitely need to go back and fix that in the first chapter.**

"I still don't think that was necessary."

"It was."

"They were already being severely punished."

"Doing community work around Knothole, and no games or tv? That's like a pat on the hand. it wouldn't have been long before they found some other defenseless kid and done the same thing they did to Cream. So I made sure there isn't going to be a next time."

Vanilla mentally groaned. Apparently, Mortifer had in the one month of visiting her, slowly been gathering information on the three kids that had bullied Cream. After she had told him that almost everyone in Knothole chastised them, She chastised them, and they had to apologize to Cream, plus their punishment. That he didn't need to do anything to the bullies. She should've known after being friends with Mortifer for so many years that he would do something drastic anyways. She loved him like a brother, but sometimes he was too stubborn for his own good.

After arguing with him for at least an hour, Vanillas patience was being pushed to the limit.

She looked at a picture of her husband Peter, at their wedding, and knew that if he was still alive. No doubt what he would do to the bullies would be much, much worse than what Mortifer had done.

"Though I disagree with how you handled it you did ensure the protection of others." Vanilla sighed in defeat. "Especially since we both know if Peter was here, the bullies would disappear without a trace, and never be seen again."

"Wouldn't exactly be a bad thing." Mortifer mused.

Putting her hands on her hips Vanilla frowned at him. "Just because I said that's what he would do Mortifer, doesn't mean I condone such things, or that you're off the hook." She rebuked Mortifer. A mournful silence, came over the two of them as they stared at the same picture in the living room, wishing Peter was here with his, bad, cringeworthy jokes.

"You got the roof fixed, and the floors." Mortifer said. Breaking the silence as he crossed his arms.

"Yes, the roof had been leaking after a bad storm came through and some roofers were going to fix it. They were upset Woodstock left a rather large hole on accident." Vanilla stated.

"Had he tried to at least fall face first instead of on his back, his quills wouldn't have sliced through the floors. and you wouldn't have had to replace that too." Mortifer Replied. With a hint of annoyance in his voice. "Had he also, not gone outside and alerted the guards, we could have avoided that incident."

"Woodstock has never thought about the consequences of his actions, that's just his personality. You on the other hand are very thoughtful and tactical about everything you do, you can be as stubborn as a mule. And have problems with trusting others, sometimes you're a bit over aggressive."

Before Vanilla could say anymore Mortifer cut in "Yeah, I get it I'm not a friendly guy, something I'm proud of." And leaned against the doorway, then smirked as Vanilla playfully rolled her eyes at him. Grabbing a tea pot Vanilla filled it with water and put it on the stove, then opened up a cabinet and looked around for a tea bag.

"Cream is going to have her friends over this afternoon, and I don't need you being rude or threatening to shoot them. Last thing I want is for her friends to feel unwelcome in my house. So if one of them do something improper, let me handle it." She said. Dropping the teabag in Vanilla started checking to make sure they didn't need to restock on food before the party.

"I won't threaten to kill.-"

Vanilla interrupted Mortifer this time, as she pointed a finger at him without looking and said, rather sternly. "I don't want to hear "I won't threaten to kill them" because I know you'll go around it by threatening to break their kneecaps, which is just as rude. So don't even try that old trick." Mortifer mumbled something under his breath, while he adjusted the bandage over his eye. As Mortifer fought to adjust it so it wouldn't slip, Vanilla grabbed his hands and slowly pulled them away from the makeshift eyepatch, then very gently raised it up, so she could inspect his wound. It wasn't a pretty sight, but she had seen more gruesome, bloody wounds that made her almost vomit. The skin around it had healed but it would scar badly, Vanilla assumed the charred black thing, was what was left of his eye. If it wasn't for Woodstock's medical expertise allowing him to do an almost impossible operation on Mortifer's eye after he was shot, Mortifer would be dead.

"Thank God Woodstock knew what he was doing." Vanilla gratefully sighed. Grabbing the new bandage Mortifer pulled out of his pouch Vanilla raised an eyebrow, at the multi colored gel on part of it.

"Something Woodstock and Tails made to help it heal faster supposedly, I just took it so they'd stop running on about how it works." Mortifer explained.

"I see." Wrapping it over his eye snugly, Vanilla suddenly seemed crestfallen, as she noticed the scars on his face. It reminded her of the ones covering his body underneath the armor, and how Mortifer got them.

"What's wrong?" Mortifer asked.

"I know the world is unfair but, sometimes I wonder why it is those who stand up for the good of Mobian kind, always suffer so much." Vanilla questioned. More to herself than Mortifer.

"Because it's our job. If we don't accept the consequences for our actions, Don't sacrifice every part of our body and soul, then innocents like you would suffer. And those who have hearts as pure as yours, should never have to suffer what I have or bear my burden. Especially someone like you, you're like a sister to me." Mortifer comforted. And placed a firm hand on her shoulder.

"I know, I know." Vanilla replied. As she let out a deep breath. The two of them then stood in silence, a comfortable silence. It had been a long time since they had conversations like this one, it was something they definitely needed to start doing again. And it always eased their emotional pains, by talking to each other about things they would never share with anyone else. Because, no one else would understand.

"Some ones here early." Mortifer said. Breaking the silence as he crossed his arms and his usual scowl returned to his face. "It's an Echidna, coming up the front porch ."

"It's Knuckles, if you don't mind make the tea while I let him in please." Vanilla asked. As she went to the door. Glancing at the boiling pot of tea, Mortifer telekinetically made it while he continued to stand there.

"I done my training early today and had nothing to do at my place, so I came early." Knuckles finished explaining to Vanilla as they walked into the kitchen.

"It's not a problem. Please, make yourself comfortable. It won't be long before the others arrive." Seeing Mortifer, Knuckles stuck his hand out for him to shake. "I know you're not on the best of terms with a lot of us, but I wanted to thank you for watching over Cream, and taking a bullet for her. I should have paid more attention to my surroundings, like I was taught instead of bickering over something so stupid." Staring at Knuckles hand for a moment, Mortifer grabbed his hand tightly and suddenly reared his head back and headbutted Knuckles. Creating a loud _CRACK_ sound, that startled Vanilla.

"Mortifer, son of Elias, last of the House of Nocte." Mortifer greeted Knuckles.

"Knuckles, son of Locke, Last of the House of Knuckles." Knuckles greeted in return and laughed. "I haven't had someone greet me the Echidna way in forever! It's nice to find out I'm not the only Echidna alive, I hope i'm correct in thinking you're a Half-blood?"

"Yes you are." Mortifer confirmed. "At the start of the Echidna civil war my father Elias left, he told me it was pointless bloodshed between his kind that he wanted no part of. So my father started the Nocte clan, and created a group of mercenaries that roamed around Mobius. It wasn't long after that when the Acorn kingdom hired them due to Maximus banning all their guns, making them easy prey for their enemies. They code named him and his soldiers the Phantom Battalion, and used them in many key battles and spec ops. Somehow, with all that going on, my father met a hedgehog named Lucy, who he later married and had only one son, me." It pained him to talk about his Father, and mother. But it was a proud Echidna tradition to tell their family history when they first meet another Echidna, if they didn't know already. "I'm glad the son of Locke is one of the many tasked with guarding the emeralds, though it is a heavy burden to bear." Mortifer finished. And motioned with his eyes to the white stripe on Knuckles chest, basically telling Knuckles he already knew his heritage.

"The only one." Knuckles corrected in a hurt tone. Catching Mortifer completely off guard by what he said.

"What do you mean the only one? What about the others?" Mortifer questioned him. While Knuckles sat down in one of the chairs and crossed his arms.

"Dunno, I just woke up on the ground, it was raining and everyone was just, gone. The village was destroyed but there weren't any bodies, and the Master Emerald was untouched, I couldn't even find any signs of footprints or recent fighting, just destruction all around me. Never found out what happened that day, and since I was the only one left I eventually decided I had to give up on them and guard the emerald, alone." Knuckles explained and stared at the floor.

Rubbing his hand across his face Mortifer took in everything that he had just heard. They were the only two left of the entire Echidna race, meaning there wasn't any way for their kind to repopulate. And when they eventually died the Echidna race would go extinct.

"Our kind, culture, and history, It's all going to just disappear, like dust in the wind. And when we die, the Master Emerald will no doubt be misused by this greedy world, it makes me sick knowing that I won't be here to stop them." Knuckles growled. And clenched his fist as his anger boiled inside him.

"Then we delay the inevitable, for as long as possible." Mortifer thoughtfully said. "When the time is right, we hide the emerald. Somewhere it will never be found and eventually like us, it will be forgotten."

"If we don't die before then." Knuckles replied.

"Lets hope God allows us to live long enough to do what needs to be done then."

"I hope he does." Knuckles agreed.

Suddenly Mortifer squinted out a window, then in a blur he was gone and the door banged shut. Knuckles looked questionably at Vanilla.

"He does that a lot. He fought too many wars." Vanilla said sadly.

"For someone around my age, he seems pretty rough." Knuckles commented.

He suddenly jumped when Mortifer said behind him to Vanilla. "You have about 20 or so unarmed spectators hiding over in the grove of trees. Apparently I'm the interest of all of Knothole." Vanilla peeked out the window and saw the group of animals under several trees by her window. Trying their best not to be obvious, however they were failing miserably.

"I'll leave before they start bothering you." With that Mortifer disappeared again.

Vanilla looked around, realizing Mortifer had left she sighed and went back to cleaning. Leaning forward Knuckles looked around and then asked quietly. "Does he always do that?".

*CLICK*

"Hold the line"

*CLICK*

"Hold the line"

*CLICK*

"Hold the line"

The words repeated themselves in Mortifer's head as he disassembled and repaired his weapons. He stopped as he closed his eyes, and remembered the men he fought beside, and how they died before his eyes. Standing up Mortifer walked over to a plaque on a wall. On it there were names inscribed, the names of every soldier that had served under him. Quickly breaking his gaze from it he went back to cleaning his weapons, and let his mind drift onto old memories.

 **Flashbacks Start(Quiet a few).**

"Mathias, you're just as stubborn as your father." A purple hedgehog said to a seven year old Mortifer. As she inspected his scraped knuckles, and a black eye he had earned from a fight. She had always called him by his middle name, because used to, it was the only way to get him to come when she called.

"That's a good thing Lucy, means he's just like me." Elias, Mortifers father, teased and winked at him.

"Yes, getting into fights that could've been avoided sounds just like you Elias, but our son needs to learn that there is a time for peace, and a time for war." Lucy stated.

"But they were calling you bad names mom, really bad names. And it just made me so angry because of what they were saying and the only way they would stop for good is if I struck fear into them, like what dad taught me in training." Mortifer explained. Huffing angrily at Elias, who was whistling innocently, Lucy put her hands on her hips and looked down at Mortifer.

"So you hit them. Mortifer I've told over and over again, that blowing up and hitting them is exactly what they want, even if you beat them they've already won when you did what they wanted you to do." She chastised him. "And you could've lost control of your gift."

Mortifer suddenly found the wood floor to be, very interesting.

"Mortifer, did you use your gift while you were enraged?" His father asked with concern.

"During the fight I...shoved them against a small brick wall…and collapsed it ontop of them. I knew I shouldn't have done it, but the strength from my rage felt so good! And It made me want to see the fear on their faces." Mortifer answered. His voice filled with distraught as he hung his head in shame.

"Go get cleaned up while me and your mother discuss what you did." Elias commanded. Nodding silently Mortifer quickly left the room.

"This is why I don't want you training him at such a young age! Mathias has no control over his rage and powers! What if he one day, killed someone because of it! It would haunt him for the rest of his life!" Lucy loudly whispered. And threw her hands in the air as she tried not to cry.

"That is why, I'm training Mortifer now. To withhold his rage so he doesn't lose control of his powers, and so he'll understand how dangerous it is for him to lose control. But it's not easy!" Elias defended himself. As he sat down on the couch and ran his hands down his face. Sitting down beside Elias Lucy hugged him.

"I know, I'm just scared Elias. Everyday his gift grows stronger and it scares me that someday he might lose control of it." Unbeknownst to them, Mortifer heard every word from the bathroom, and stared into the mirror. Sadly believing he was becoming, the monster his mother feared.

* * *

"Mortifer, stop it, you need to stop it now." Elias said softly to his ten year old son and put a hand on his shoulder. Mortifer's hands was extended in front of him as everyone and everything at the funeral was held in the air, his mother's funeral. His eyes glowed a bright orange as tears, streamed down his face he couldn't-no refused to accept his mother was dead, that she had to go instead of someone else.

It started when his dad had Blackjack watch him when something happened to his mother and she was rushed to the hospital. After hours of waiting they finally returned home, though Mortifer's mother was extremely upset and his father, unusually quiet. It wasn't until many hospital visits later that his father sat him down, and told him something no father wanted to tell his son, his mother, was dying. The Doctors had no idea what was slowly killing her and nothing they had could stop it, or slow it down. That's when everything started going downhill.

Mortifer spent as much time as he could with her in the hospital, while his father had Blackjack take care of Mortifer for him as he desperately searched everywhere for a cure. Spending thousands of dollars trying to help his dying wife. As his father spent all of his time away from him, Mortifer found comfort in Blackjack.

The Mussain would spend all his time talking with him, watching war films, and even participate in several hour long chess games with Mortifer to keep his mind off what was happening. But nothing could prepare him for the day, when his mother died. It was as if his entire world collapsed around him, while questions screamed inside his mind. Why did she have to die!? Why couldn't they save her!? Why couldn't he, save her?

"Mort-, Mathias, this is not what she would want. Please, stop." Elias voice cracked as held back tears. Suddenly everything and everyone, fell to the ground as Mortifer collapsed into his father's arms, wailing in grief.

* * *

"Hows Mortifer doing, boss?" Blackjack asked Elias. As they both watched Mortifer and Woodstock fight training robots, designed to be like living opponents when hit.

"He's been spending more of his time training with Woodstock, after I gave him those energized knifes for his sixteenth birthday." Elias answered. "Ever since I brought Woodstock home four years ago, he's been helping with Mortifer's rage, and his pain. They even fight as though they were twins, synchronizing, in every combat technique while fighting. Something truly remarkable." Elias answered, in awe. While watching for any errors that needed to be corrected.

"I feel sorry for the poor souls that fight these two" Blackjack commented. As Mortifer and Woodstock smashed the robots to pieces in hand to hand combat.

Suddenly Woodstock grabbed Mortifer and threw him into one of the robots, when Mortifer slammed into it he bit down on the wiring by its neck, and ripped it out.

"You remember how I was against not using live people when we first switched to robots for training Boss? I'm glad we switched to robots now."

* * *

"Incoming!" Someone yelled as artillery shells exploded, lasers whizzed every direction, and explosions and screams of dying men were heard across the battlefield. Mortifer held his dying father, in his arms who was riddled with laser marks and covered in gaping wounds.

Weakly grasping Mortifer's hand, he gasped

"Remember what I taught you, control your anger, And remember...we will...see each other… again." Elias shuddered as he let out his last breath, and his lifeless eyes stared at the sky.

"Rest in peace Father." Mortifer said in a broken voice. As tears streamed down his face. Closing his Father's eyes as he laid his body down. Mortifer slowly rose, his face full of rage and hatred, as he turned to the remaining soldiers, who looked expectantly at him. Most of them were wounded, some even were missing an arm or leg.

"Sir, what are your orders?" Blackjack asked. Picking up his father's two pistols Mortifer said only three words

"Hold the line."

 **END FLASHBACKS**

* * *

Putting his guns down Mortifer clasped his hands together, and let out several deep breaths to calm himself. What Knuckles had told Mortifer, deeply troubled him. He was one of the last of the echidna race, even if he was only a half blood they still were his people.

But that's not what troubled him the most, it was that his family line would die out with him. Something his father had made Mortifer swear to keep from happening, and it was also viewed as the highest dishonor by echidna kind to fail in carrying on the family name.

This burdening news, and Mortifer's memories had reminded him of something that he had accepted a long time ago. He was a cold blooded, ruthless killing machine of war, fueled by rage and hatred, nothing more and nothing less. Destined, to live a lonely life of pain until death came for him.

 **A/N: I decided to do Mortifers backstory before I started doing chapters full of action and fighting again. I hope his backstory is a good one, and shows why he acts the way he does. As always constructive criticism and suggestions is appreciated.**


	17. Chapter 16

**A/N: Many thanks to my proofreader GorrillaBub. And as always, constructive criticism is greatly appreciated!**

 **LOCATION: Robotnik's Lab in Robotropolis.**

 **TIME: 630 HOURS.**

Heavy metal footsteps echoed throughout the lab room as a roboticized spider, known as Shēngcún, walked into the room. His metal skin was still covered in blood from a previous mission assigned to him years ago, when Robotnik first started on a special project. To capture top KFF commandos and bring them back alive for experimentation. That was the only reason Shēngcún was dragging an unconscious Commando, beaten beyond recognition, behind him. Because he found only one that matched what Robotnik needed out of an entire platoon of KFF.

Throwing the commando against one of the many tables surrounded by sharp tools for, breaking test subjects. Shēngcún kneeled as Robotnik finished detaching all the wires but one, from something that hummed to life.

"I have captured another for your project, master." Shēngcún said. As Robotnik turned around and clasped his hands together.

"I am no longer in need of test subjects. The last subject you brought me helped achieve my goal in completing this, ingenious masterpiece. This, will be the end of Sonic and his pathetic freedom fighters!" Robotnik stated proudly. While drumming his fingers together and a sickening smile formed on his face.

"Then shall I interrogate the commando, since he is no longer of any use to you?" Shēngcún asked.

"No, I will personally interrogate him later. I have a new mission for you, once all of your combat data has been copied to the projects harddrive." Robotnik answered. And grabbed a cable with a pronged tip. "Before I send my magnificent creation to kill Sonic, it needs more than just your combat data, it needs the data from him, and his allies. And I have already set a plan in motion to draw them out of Knothole" Robotnik explained. Then plugged the cable into Shēngcún, forcing him to instantly power down as all his combat data was copied onto a computer.

Suddenly, the eyes of the partially finished machine Robotnik had been working, flickered to life.

"PRIORITY TARGET: SONIC"

* * *

 **LOCATION: KNOTHOLE COUNCIL MEETING**

 **TIME: 1200 HOURS**

Sally growled in frustration as one of the Knothole council members repeated their decision on a matter.

"We are aware what the Mewish scouts have contributed to our cause, but we cannot send in a rescue team to find them. Their mission was in Dingo territory so if we send in a team the Dingos could view it as an act of war, were already stretched thin fighting just Robotnik. And our relations with them are barely holding together."

"I promised her that a team would be sent to rescue her father! Do we not have anyone available for a black ops? Delta? 101st? I'm willing to take the 52nd recon division!" Sally asked desperately.

"They are all currently deployed. And even if we had them here as I've stated before, we cannot risk a war with the Dingos. I'm sorry." The council member answered. Then quickly joined the other members as they discussed another issue at hand.

"They're going to forget about my father, and the others just like that? After all we've sacrificed and done for this cause?" A white twenty two year old female leopard, in faded blue body armor asked Sally in disbelief. Putting a hand on her shoulder Sally led her outside

"None of them wanted to tell you no Violet, but they don't want to risk losing this war. So they had to make the hard decision to not rescue your father." Sally told the Leopard as they stepped outside "But I called a friend in case this happened. The Dingoes would definitely declare war on us if we sent in a team with our equipment, and banner. However, if a group of, scavengers, went in, even if they got discovered the Dingos wouldn't suspect the KFF was connected." Sally explained.

It was only part of her carefully designed plan. She knew the council would say no, so she had been preparing a black ops team full of volunteers and mercenaries in advance. Sally's first thought was to get Sonic and the gang to help but they were following a lead on a new weapon, code named the Death Egg, and wouldn't be back for days. And with the Mewish scouts being prisoners of Robotnik, they wouldn't be alive for long.

"So, who's you're friend?" Violet questioned.

"That, would be me!" Blackjack answered for Sally. As he walked up to them, covered in dirt and grime, along with a few bruises and scrapes from a recent battle.

"Blackjack where's the rest of your men? I asked for all of them." Sally asked.

Cleaning out his ear Blackjack leaned in closer "Can you speak up! A Buzzers bullet exploded by my head!" He yelled. Causing several bystanders to stare.

"Where's your men." Sally repeated into his ear.

"They said unless you paid them double! They ain't coming!" Blackjack answered, loudly. This caused Sally to scowl as she crossed her arms.

"That means we only got the two volunteers, and then the four of us going to rescue them then." Sally stated. The chances of succeeding had just dropped significantly, and Nicole had already said it was already unlikely they could pull it off, according to her calculations.

"Who's the volunteers!?" Blackjack asked.

"A private, and a veteran scout." Sally told him. While running their current options through her head.

"Well, they're all gonna die, but at least we have meat shields!"

"Not, helping Blackjack." Sally growled. And sent a glare at the bystanders, making them quickly leave the area.

"We need more soldiers, whatever attacked us out there took out our entire platoon and we couldn't even scratch it! If the seven of us come across it, we're dead!" Violet exclaimed, as her voice cracked in fear from the memory of what happened.

"Then we avoid the robot as much as possible. We don't have long to save your father and his men, so we have to go with what have, or they will be killed." Sally replied while she started pacing back and forth.

"I know a mercenary that's worth twenty of my men! And might be cheaper too, but Sally probably won't like him!" Blackjack yelled into the leopards ear, causing her to cringe.

"It doesn't matter if I don't like him, if he's that good I'm willing to use him right now."

* * *

"I can't believe I'm listening to you and asking **Him,** of all people for help after what he threatened to do." Sally huffed. As they stared at Mortifer's large aircraft.

"If you want to go with just the meatshields, fine. But he can do things that would keep us, well, some of us from our deaths." Blackjack commented, quieter than earlier since most of his hearing had returned.

Putting a hand on her hip Violet asked. "What kind of things?"

Holding up his hand Blackjack started counting them on his fingers. "He's trained and has been through all the toughest military training possible, making him highly skilled in everything. Has five years of combat experience, twelve and a half years if you include this war, so trust me when I say he's a tough son of a gun. Then you have, his gift."

"We already know about his telekinesis, found out he had that when we first met." Sally interrupted.

"Not just telekinesis! You see he can use it like, built in radar, to see things that his eyes can't see. Cloaked objects, inside buildings or, a weakness in an enemy's armor." Blackjack claimed. Surprised and slightly alarmed by this new information Sally looked towards the Leopard while making her decision. Violet seemed to brighten up after hearing of Mortifer's capabilities, like she believed they now had a greater chance of getting her father back. And Sally's own father, king Maximus had hired Mortifer in the past.

"Okay, let's get this over with."

"Take one step inside my ship, and I'll kill you." Mortifer's gruff voice, growled behind Sally. Rolling her eyes, Sally turned around and faced Mortifer as he glared at her with his eye.

"Hey, Boss! I see that Woodstock and Tails gave you that eyepatch they were working on, with a bunch of, high tech thingys, in it." Blackjack said awkwardly. While Sally and Mortifer continued to glare at each other.

"Blackjack."

"Yes Boss?"

"Get rid of that Swatbot hand that's gripping you're grenades pin, so I don't have to clean you off my ship." Looking at the grenade on his side Blackjack noticed a broken off Swatbot hand, with its finger gripping the grenade pin as it twitched slowly working the pin out.

"Oh, I knew I forgot about something." Blackjack muttered and tried getting the metal hand's finger out.

"Against my better judgement, I'm here to hire you. I'll pay in gold rings upfront so name your price." Sally told Mortifer. Glancing at Blackjack, Mortifer pushed Sally aside and headed for his ship.

"He's wrong, I'm not for hire." Mortifer answered her. But before he could step on the ramp of his ship Violet quickly blocked his path.

"What if we pay double your usual price?"

"I said, I'm not for hire." Mortifer snarled at the Leopard and roughly pushed her out of his way. Suddenly Violet reached out and grabbed his arm, stopping him as he turned and growled at her. "Please! My father's a prisoner of Robotnik and will be killed if we don't rescue him! Without your help, he'll die!" Violet begged him as she tried her best to control her emotions.

"Not, my problem. Now let go or, I will break your arm." Mortifer threatened. Letting go Violet turned away and tried regaining her composure, while wiping away a few stray tears.

Sallys blood boiled with anger as she went to Violets side to comfort her.

"I don't see how Vanilla can stand someone like you!" Sally lashed out at Mortifer. Her voice fell on deaf ears as he disappeared through the ship's door.

"Let me talk to him." Blackjack sighed and headed for the door.

"No, we are done here! This was a waste of time that we don't have!" Sally yelled. While leading Violet away from the ship

"Just give me five minutes, please." He asked her quietly.

"Blackjack-!"

"Just, five minutes." Blackjack cut in.

Clenching her jaw sally pointed at the open door. "Five minutes, then were leaving." She ordered. Nodding his head in understanding Blackjack ran into the ship.

"Boss! Boss! We need to talk!" He called after Mortifer.

"No." Mortifer answered. Entering his room he shut the door behind him, only for it to be kicked open by Blackjack seconds later.

"Boss-AHHH!." Blackjack cried out as the door bounced off the wall and swung back, slamming full force into his nose and almost knocking him over.

"Mother Mussia! I think you broke my nose!"

"I didn't do anything, you kicked the door into the wall and it bounced back." Rolling his eyes Blackjack stepped into the room. Mortifer had used the same excuse when he was a kid and would slam the door into Blackjack's nose multiple times telekinetically, then claim the door simply bounced back.

"Why are you turning this down Boss? You've never turned a blind eye to a soldier in need, especially since you've been through the same thing Violet has." Blackjack questioned Mortifer. Taking a stance Mortifer started hitting the punching bag rapidly.

"Unlike you Blackjack, i'm tired of war, I nearly lost everything to it. I won't risk that happening again." Mortifer replied while his strikes sped up on the bag.

Leaning against the wall Blackjack took a deep breath.

"You said no because, Sally is the daughter of king Maximus, and it was his mistake that wiped out our battalion and killed Elias." The punching bag suddenly exploded when Mortifer reared back and hit it, enraged.

"He also made a mistake that he was too prideful to see, banning guns of any kind from the military and civilians. When his kingdom was surrounded, by enemies, with guns, that had been waiting for the right moment to attack. You see he forced everyone to follow his ideology, and if you didn't you were a 'Bad guy' that would be put in prison. And of course Maximus valued his belief over the lives of his citizens, so when the Overlanders saw how weak they had become and declared war, he still banned guns. Didn't matter how many died fighting with sticks and stones, against tanks, aircraft, boats, or even when they were slaughtered in the smallest of firefights. And I can see right now, that she will be just like him! Their not fighting for freedom, their just exchanging one dictator, for another!" Mortifer shouted.

"You don't know that boss, she could be better than her father just give her a chance." Blackjack tried reasoning with him.

"NO."

"So you're gonna not save Violet's father because you're holding a grudge? That's not what Elias would do! That's not what he would want, you to do! Everyone makes mistakes in war that gets someone killed! You of all people, know that after what happened to Peter!" Blackjack shouted back. And instantly regretted bringing Peter's death up, as Mortifers head and shoulders slumped in pain from remembering, his fatal mistake.

Mentally kicking himself for bringing that up, Blackjack sighed and lowered his voice. "I know you've been through hell, cause I went through it with you every step of the way. And we both gave up everything to survive it, our hearts, our souls, our humanity, we gave it all up fighting over a piece of dirt. But I'm not asking you to fight for a piece of dirt, I'm asking you to fight for this girl's father, so she doesn't feel the pain you do everyday. Just this once, please."

* * *

Sally yawned and stretched in her seat, they had been flying for around hour and a few of them were getting some much needed sleep before the mission. Sally wasn't one of them, her mind had been running nonstop planning the mission and forming backup plans for when something went wrong.

Rubbing the tiredness from her eyes she looked around, Orrison the chameleon was snoring, and drooling with one eye open which was somewhat unnerving. The squirrel, private Ryan, had earbuds on and was tapping his foot to music, oblivious to any sound around him. Then Violet, the leopard was also getting some much needed sleep, Sally noticed how peaceful she seemed. Which was a good thing after all the stress and trauma she suffered, when her father made her run back for help during a battle.

"So you disagree with our current approach?" Blackjack asked Mortifer. Sally frowned as she stared at the two of them, they had been going over her plans while studying a holographic map for most of the flight. And Mortifer had been talking in another language to Blackjack, ever since he had allowed them on his airplane and put coordinates into the autopilot.

"What's he saying?" Sally asked Nicole who was sitting beside her, and listening intently to Mortifer.

"He's speaking Latin, fluently. It's possible that it is his native tongue which is, odd. Mortifer agrees with your plan, but says it would be suicide to try and land where you want, even with his aircraft being cloaked." Nicole answered.

Standing up Sally went to see why he didn't agree on that part of the plan.

"Please, be careful not to complicate our fragile alliance with him." Nicole cautioned her quietly before entering recharge.

"If we can even call it that." Sally muttered to herself. "So why is it suicide to land?" She questioned Mortifer as she walked up and crossed her arms. Mortifer ignoring her, continued to study the map and memorize it. Rolling his eyes at how the two them were still treating each other, Blackjack answered for Mortifer.

"The Dingos are masters of deception, they make it look like certain areas of their defenses are weak, but their actually the most heavily fortified areas."

"It would take weeks to locate an actual weakness, but since you don't have that time we will be dropping in from the sky, near the objective." Mortifer finished for Blackjack, while circling their landing point.

"Wait a second, I'm fine with you making a different plan, but we haven't even agreed to it and you're already doing it? I'm not okay with that." Sally stated. Groaning in frustration Blackjack threw his hands in the air.

"Gah! Would the two of you stop bickering!? It's like I'm dealing with black market salesmen!" He scolded both of them. "We're running out of time so he decided to take the only route possible! Next time, he will inform you before changing the plans! And for the love of Mussia quit, holding, grudges!"

Suddenly the ship came to a halt, they had arrived at their destination.

"I'll get the others so I can get out off this freakin ship, and shoot somebody." Blackjack muttered and grabbed his gun as he went to get the others. Both Sally, and Mortifer were surprised at his outburst, and remained silent until everyone was in there.

"Before she, explains the plans I need to know who I'm fighting with." Mortifer said. Taking a moment to look at all of them, he then proceeded to ask "What weapons do you have?" Orrison, Ryan, and Violet, raised up suppressed SB-47's, Swatbot guns, while Sally activated her energized wrist blades then deactivated them. "Have any of you fought against Robotized prisoners?" Everyone raised their hands. "Has anyone ever killed a person before?" Orrison was the only one to raise his hand, making Mortifer raise an eyebrow in surprise. There was no doubt in his mind, this mission was going to end badly for them.

"Alright, the plan is to land here then work our way five miles east, to the last known location of the mewish scouts. A graveyard that most likely, has one of Robotnik's factories underneath it. Which will be crawling with dingos now." Sally informed everyone. "If you come across any Dingos try avoiding them, if you can't, take them down, without killing them. Their not our allies or enemies, but we don't want to start a war with someone who has firepower equal to Robotnik."

Blackjack glanced at Mortifer who discreetly nodded at him, signaling that he wasn't going to follow that order. They'd both done a similar missions with King Maximus's Secret Service before, were they couldn't kill, it always ended with too many good agents in body bags.

"We also need to watch for whatever prototype mech that attacked our scouts, so far all we know about it is that it's fast, and heavily armored. If you see it, get as much intel as you can about it then run." Sally finished. "Let's go."

As everyone headed for the door on the back of the ship, Mortifer pushed a button opening it, then grabbed a semi auto rifle off the wall.

"Why is the plane still up here in the sky? We need to land!" Sally exclaimed. While all of them looked down at the city, several thousand feet below them.

"This is the best way to land undetected." Mortifer answered her. Then stepped out the door, plummeting towards the ground down below.

"Did he have a parachute!?" Ryan asked as everyone watched in shock. Suddenly they all were shoved out of the door and sent flying towards the ground.

Smiling Blackjack chuckled to himself as he watched them all panic on their way down. "I always loved doing that to new guys, probably going to lose paycheck over this but eh, who cares." Then jumped out with the others.

As Mortifer neared the ground, he activated a device on the back of his neck and a metal mask formed over part of his face. Something he had made from his broken helmet so he had at least some protection, for his head. Telekinetically slowing himself down Mortifer silently landed in a crouched position, gun at the ready. Old survival instincts started kicking in, as he took in all the different smells, heard the quietest of sounds, and his eyes scanned every inch of his surroundings for hostiles. And oh, how he had missed the feel of adrenaline rushing through him, no matter how much Mortifer denied it to himself.

Extending one arm, he caught everyone telekinetically and put them on the ground. Then done several hand signs before moving forward.

Standing up and dusting her shorts off, Sally looked at Blackjack for a translation.

"Twenty Dingos, with assault rifles, and grenades, along with a three tanks currently patrolling the area ahead."

"Put your night vision on and follow him." Sally ordered. Doing as she said, they slipped night vision goggles on and fell into formation behind Mortifer.

Slowly the voices of Dingo soldiers became louder as they moved closer and closer to the patrol, until they were right on the other side of a building from them.

Going prone, Mortifer crawled through a hole in the side of the building, then motioned for everyone to do the same while he watched the Dingo patrol. They had stopped to eat, meaning he would need a distraction and a route to get them through.

'Ugh, my legs are going to be scraped to pieces in these shorts, should have listened to Bunny.' Sally thought to herself while planing on how to bypass the patrol. She was abruptly pulled out of her thoughts when Mortifer pulled her head beside him, and whispered into her ear.

"Take everyone in between the tank in the middle on my signal, then continue through the next four buildings." Nodding, Sally rolled over and relayed the plan.

The only reason she was listening to him, and not yelling at him for the surprise skydiving was because they were in a warzone. And she knew from experience, it was a bad idea to get into a argument. That and Nicole said old documents showed he was close enough to her father, to be her bodyguard for a time. Meaning even though he was cold and heartless, Mortifer could be trusted, somewhat.

" _Dylan, you hear what happened at the graveyard where they found those mewish body's?"_ One of the Dingos said to another in their language.

" _No, what happened Jacob?"_ Dylan asked _._ As they got water from their backpacks, neither one noticed the radio unclip from the side of one of them then float away.

" _Whatever attacked the mewish came back, and killed everyone there, cut em to pieces. So General Von Strucker, ordered an entire tank division to set up a perimeter with orders to kill anything that comes out, even if it looks like one of our own."_ The other dingo, Jacob, explained and leaned against a large brick wall.

Seeing an opportunity, Mortifer suddenly telekinetically yanked the wall down onto the dingo then gave the signal to move out while the rest of the dingo patrol rushed over to their buried comrade to dig him out.

As Sally and the rest of them passed by the tanks, Mortifer saw Nicole hunch over and hold her head in pain.

"Blackjack, hang back and cover me." Mortifer ordered. As he quickly made his way down and hid behind the tank with Nicole .

"Hey, I don't need dead weight putting us at risk. So tell me yes, or no, can you keep going without getting someone killed?" He asked her sternly.

Steadying herself Nicole hesitatingly answered. "I-I'm fine, it was just a small glitch in my system." Mortifer looked at her a warily, then took point, leading Nicole and Blackjack back to the group. Slowly but surely, they made their way to the graveyard. Though it was taking longer than some of them expected as they evaded countless patrols, and traps everywhere.

The Dingoes had a larger army than the KFF had believed based on intelligence reports, and were much better equipped, fed, trained, and disciplined than KFF fighters. They patrolled in tight formations, were extremely aware of their surroundings, and always had soldiers watching every direction.

Their cover was almost blown when Private ryan tripped and slammed into a metal door that had Dingoes on the other side. Violet was quickly yanked behind the corner by Mortifer, while the others found cover elsewhere.

Morifer quickly pulled a piece of debris by the door right before a squad from inside the building rushed out, and checked the area.

" _It's looks like some debris rolled down and hit the door. But check the area anyways, I don't want to take any chances after what happened at the graveyard!"_ the commanding Dingo barked to his soldiers. They immediately started sweeping the area with their flashlights, and one was coming dangerously close to Violet and Mortifer.

That's when the leopard noticed, Mortifer slowly drawing a energized knife, and preparing to stab the commander as soon as he turned the corner. Too afraid of being heard if she tried whispering something to him, all Violet could do was watch as a sickening feeling came over her, at the thought of what was about to happen. Her father had once told her sometimes you had to take a life, to save many, Violet understood that. She had just never seen someone die before. Since they were scouts fighting wasn't something they done very often, that and her father always had her in the back so she was safe.

" _This whole area is unstable. Collect your gear, were moving to a safer location."_ The commander ordered as he turned around and followed his soldiers back inside the building.

Sheathing his knife Mortifer quickly moved with Violet right behind him. Blackjack had apparently told everyone to move on ahead because Mortifer could sense them waiting just outside the graveyard, in the second story of a building.

Surveying the area with binoculars, Blackjack estimated at least a hundred tanks lined up with guns ready, and machinegun nest fortified with sandbags watching for movement.

"I can't believe I'm doing this for a handful of rings." Blackjack mumbled. Handing Sally the binoculars he turned to Mortifer as he came up the stairway. "I'm pretty sure I know your thoughts on trying to get past that many soldiers and tanks." Blackjack said to Mortifer.

"It's suicide. And whatever is in there, if it scares Von Stryker this bad, some of us aren't making it back." Mortifer stated openly while ignoring the silent stares everyone gave the two of them. Taking out a packaged MRE Mortifer opened it and took a very small bite then stuffed it back in his pouch.

"It's best if everyone eats a little now, this will be your only chance to do so." Mortifer advised the rest of them. The KFF group looked at Sally for permission first, she nodded at them, and they(excluding Nicole)started pulling out snacks ranging from sandwiches to crackers.

"Were going to need a distraction if we want to make it in there." Sally told Mortifer while munching on a sandwich as she leaned against the wall.

"I can create one but, first I need to find the entrance to the facility." Mortifer said. Stretching out his hand he closed his eyes, took a deep breath, then focused.

Waiting for Mortifer to finish whatever he was doing, everyone kept themselves busy by doing different things.

Private Ryan and Orrison were playing I spy, though Ryan was having problems since all Orrison would say was he spied a certain dingo, and there was alot of them.

Then Nicole, was having Blackjack help her complete her database for the Mussian language. And Sally was, watching Mortifer out of curiosity of what he was doing exactly as he turned and twisted his arm in different directions.

'So this guy was my bodyguard once?' Sally thought as she looked him over, and tried to remember anything about him from her childhood. 'Why can't I remember him then?' Sally then noticed that debris around Mortifer had started floating.

"Is that, normal?" She asked Blackjack.

"Only when he's extremely focused on something." Blackjack answered and picked a brick up. "Watch this." Rearing back Blackjack threw the brick at Mortifer, but right before it hit him Mortifer grabbed it, and completely crushed it with his hand.

"Throw something else, and I'll crush your face instead." Mortifer threatened as he opened his eyes and the floating debris fell back onto the ground, and Blackjack threw up his hands in mock horror.

"The entrance is in the center of the graveyard. Nicole will need to access the hidden panel inside the tombstone with the name, Nigel Smashing, on it to open the door." Mortifer informed Sally, then turned to Violet. "How many were in your group?" He questioned Violet.

"Um, fifteen, if you don't include me." She told him "Why?"

"Because six of them are dead by the entrance." Violet became silent as she took in the reality that some of her close friends, and possibly her father were dead. "D-does...do one of them have a scar on their, b-bottom l-lip?" She asked quietly and looked at the ground. Mentally Violet was trying to keep calm, as her heart pounded in fear and agony for her friends, and the fact that her father might be among the dead.

"No, none of the bodies have a scar there." Mortifer answered her. And Sally, for a split second thought she saw Mortifer look at the distressed leopard with sympathy. "Whatever killed them used only a bladed weapon, and was very precise with it. They all were stabbed once, through the heart, doesn't seem like they had time to react, and most likely died in rapid succession." Mortifer stated, as if he was doing an autopsy on the bodies.

"You can feel this?" Sally questioned, and was slightly sickened at the thought of him having to feel the corpses and wounds.

"Yes."

"So you can feel-?"

"Our distraction is about to happen, everyone get ready to move." Mortifer quickly cut Sally off as he seemed uncomfortable talking about it. Quickly turning away from everyone he walked down to the bottom floor, and Sally followed right behind him.

"I didn't know, sorry." She apologized as they both stopped at the door.

"When I open this door lead everyone to the center of the graveyard, hack the panel and get inside. Then, don't close the entrance until I say." Mortifer told her as the group gathered by the door. Grabbing the Dingo radio he took Mortifer flicked it on.

" **This is Commander Sades! We have been engaged by a Robot and need immediate reinforcements over!"** He yelled into it, sounding terrified in the dingos own language.

" **Roger, this is Captain Strucker of the 2nd tank division. Can you confirm that the tango is the one from the graveyard over."** a Dingo responded **.**

" **Affirmative! We can't penetrate its armor and it's cutting right through us! Our coordinates are-!"** Mortifer abruptly crushed the radio, then telekinetically pulled down a support to one of the only crumbling skyscrapers nearby, collapsing it.

The ground shook as tanks drove away and soldiers yelled and ran beside them.

"Go!" Mortifer commanded and threw the door open as everyone rushed out behind Sally.

"Nicole! Find that panel!" Sally told Nicole as they neared the center. Looking around Nicole started scanning the area, and pulled up a hologram on her arms.

Blackjack made it to the center first and slid behind a tombstone as he took aim and covered the rest of them.

"Orrison, cover left! Ryan, Violet, cover right!" Sally ordered them. As Ryan and Violet got into position the two of them both had trouble keeping their food down from the smell and sight of decomposing corpses beside them.

"We'll retrieve the bodies later, right now the mission is the priority." Mortifer said to them as he ran by, and set up beside Sally.

"Why didn't you bring your brother? He could have hacked this in seconds and we'd have a lot more firepower." Sally asked while they waited for Nicole to bypass the doors security.

"Woodstock was exaggerating when he said he could hack into Robotnik's systems within seconds. It takes several minutes for him just to get access into the network but to him, it seems like a few seconds went by, Nicole is just as fast as him. And though he has extra firepower, Woodstock is extremely clumsy, and trigger happy." Mortifer Replied. "And I'm not dragging him into another war." He quickly added.

A loud hiss and groan of metal drew everyone's attention as a large part of the ground lowered at an angle, revealing a tunnel that led deep underground.

"Now this, is the kinda grave I want when I die. So they can bury all my guns with me." Blackjacks voice echoed as he walked down in it with his massive LMG over his shoulder. It didn't take long for everyone else to follow behind him.

"Mortifer, lowering himself to fight with such measly rebels? I don't know what to think, to him this war is simply a gratuitous fight for power. It's...perplexing." Robotnik muttered to himself, as he watched the KFF fighters and Mortifer infiltrate the facility on several monitors from his metal throne. "What drove him to their side? He cares nothing for money, and it's certainly not because of what happened with his eye, Mortifer can easily get revenge for that without their help. So what in the universe, made him join them?" Drumming his fingers Robotnik tried to solve this question with his einstein like intelligence, but he couldn't possibly fathom why Mortifer was with them.

"Shall I send Shēngcún, to deal with them and alert the facility, sir?" Snively asked.

"No, though this is most unexpected we will use it to our advantage. I will sacrifice this facility to gather data from Mortifer for my ultimate weapon against Sonic, and perhaps we can turn these rebels, against Mortifer." Robotnik answered Snively, and smiled. "Activate order Omega 6, for all roboticized personal."

 **A/N: Whew! Finally got another chapter done! My apologies for taking forever but, been busy at work and haven't had much time to write. But don't worry, I will try my best to keep writing until this story is finished.**


	18. Chapter 17

**IMPORTANT AUTHOR UPDATE**

 **I recently went back to the first few chapters of this fanfic, and noticed how bad I was at writing when I first started. So to all my readers who had to read through that, my apologies. It took me several hours but I went back through all of them and tried fixing those chapters the best I could. Hopefully they slightly better than when I first posted them, and again I am sorry for you guys having to read through that and hopefully I am getting better with every chapter I post. Also! Many thanks to crazyman90 who favorited this story, and General Jo for following it. And I am grateful for everyone of you readers, that view this story. -Omegahud-**

Cautious footsteps echoed throughout the empty factory in the underground base, as Mortifer put his rifle on his back and knelt down. There was no Swatbots for security, no robotized workers, and none of the machinery in the factory that built mechanized units for combat were on.

"Their still here." Sally stated as she walked up behind Mortifer, while using one of her energized wrist blades for a light source.

"The question is, where." Mortifer said and rubbed his hand across the fresh footprints on the floor.

Giving him a confused look Sally asked. "Can't you feel them?"

"All the doors to the different sections of this facility are sealed airtight." He answered and stood back up. "I have no idea what's waiting for us on the other side of any of those doors."

"Splitting up with the others was a bad idea." Sally muttered then followed Mortifer as he slowly moved forward through the darkness.

It had been Mortifers idea for the group to split up once they made it inside, because they could find the prisoners faster, and if it was an ambush Mortifer had explained that the Robots would target the smaller group first since Sally was a priority target, and avoid the larger group with the rescued prisoners. Bait, basically, no other word for it the two of them were bait.

" **Sally! We found the Mewish scouts, and other prisoners. Their badly wounded but still ready to fight."** Nicole told Sally over the comms. Violet could be heard in the background crying in joy with her father and the other prisoners.

"Get them topside, we'll meet you there once we collect anything valuable to the war from here." Sally ordered.

Both of them stopped as they came across a massive hydraulic door with an electric holographic panel that was still active in the middle of it, the only thing that was still functioning in the facility.

"It's a trap!" Sally exclaimed and took a stance.

"I highly doubt it." Mortifer replied and touched a button on the panel, activating the doors mechanism. As the door raised up what looked like a thick fog quickly rolled out and covered the floor beneath them.

"It's not a bio-weapon, if it was you would have died the moment it touched you." Mortifer informed Sally. She immediately stopped holding her breath and exhaled after hearing him.

The first thing Mortifer noticed once he entered the room, was the temperature had drastically dropped, the second thing was the hundreds of large empty glass tubes connected to one computer.

"If only we had gotten here sooner." Sally said to herself and stared the empty test tubes.

"Trust me, it's better their not here." Mortifer said to her over his shoulder while staring at something on the computer's screens.

"What is Project Malefic?" Sally questioned as she glanced at the words on the screen that Mortifer was staring at.

"A cybernetic enhancement program created by Robotnik during the final days of the Overlander war. Unlike Robotization, the test subjects memories and other data from the brain was transferred to a synthetic metal one that was bulletproof, EMP proof, and unhackable. Along with enhancements that increased survivability, then the subjects new brain was put inside a metal frame to replace the body that was built for war. The process however is extremely painful and will either kill the subject, or cause extreme damage to them psychologically. Only one test subject ever survived it." He explained and touched the screen. Instantly several images appeared of Woodstock, who was barely recognizable from his wounds and missing body parts, his almost lifeless body was sprawled out on a bloody operation table.

"For hours he screamed in pain, even in his sleep. He'd thrash around whenever Robotnik operated on him so I was forced to hold him down. after the operation on him was finished, I had to go clean his blood off my face and armor." Slamming his fist down Mortifer shattered the computer and regained his composure. Sally hesitatingly reached out to place a comforting hand on his shoulder.

'All this time I've judged him without knowing what he's been through, what he's seen.' Sally thought to herself. 'What if that happened to me? What if I had been forced to watch my family suffer like that? We've been looking at him like he was Robotnik. But Mortifer turned into something everyone despises, in order to protect the only ones he had left.' Mortifer flinched as her hand touched his shoulder and quickly slapped it away.

"I don't need your sympathy." Mortifer spat.

" **INTRUDER ALERT! INTRUDER ALERT! LOCKDOWN INITIATED IN SECTOR 95-C! EXTERMINATION PROTOCOL UNDERWAY!"** A robotic voice said over an intercom system as red lights flashed and alarms started going off. Round doors inside the walls slowly began opening as the sound of hundreds of machines could be heard buzzing inside them.

"THIS, is why I never split up!" Sally told Mortifer while activating her energy blades.

"Which is exactly why we split up, the mission will be completed while we last as long as possible and keep their attention." Mortifer informed her as he knelt behind cover and took aim with his rifle.

 **vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvVVVVVVVVVVVVVV!** The sound of mechanical wings and engines was all Mortifer and Sally could hear roaring, as hundreds of flying robotic wasp with a twenty foot wingspan and a slim but thick body with large energy guns on their stingers that began glowing as they charged up. Taking up formation the mechanical wasp flew over them and rained down a barrage of red energy balls from their stingers that exploded upon impact.

Raising her energy blades for protection Sally was blown off her feet as first barrage of energy balls exploded around her, sending glass shards and metal debris hurdling everywhere. Sally held her head as she sat up and rolled behind cover, she could feel a strange tingle as a small trickle of blood dripped down the side of her head and soaked into her white glove. Hearing the sound of the wasp coming back around Sally looked around for Mortifer and tried locating his gunfire through the buzzing sound and her ringing ears. When she finally spotted him Sally noticed Mortifer's outstretched hand was telekinetically holding hundreds of pieces of glass and shrapnel around her that had been flying towards her like a bubble.

Jerking his hand Mortifer sent all the deadly debris hurdling towards the wasp's wings as they flew by and fired a second barrage, while he rapidly fired his rifle with his other hand. Sending several crashing onto the floor beside Sally as their wings were clipped by the the debris and bullets. Upon hitting the floor they quickly stood up and charged towards her, with their razor sharp pincers open wide while screeching.

Jumping on one's head Sally began stabbing it with both of her energy blades making it violently thrash around, before sputtering and collapsing as severed wires sparked. Another one, seeing that she was distracted quickly jumped on her and pinned her to the floor by wrapping it's legs around her.

" **Sally, we've almost reached the exit. How are things on your end?"** Nicole asked over the comm link, completely oblivious to the situation.

"Ambushed...by a swarm... of Buzzers!" Sally shouted while moving her head from side to side, narrowly avoiding the buzzers pincers that were striking at her head and trying to crush it. Freeing her hands, Sally quickly decapitated it's head and squeezed out from underneath the Buzzer.

" **We're coming back down to get you out of there!"** Nicole yelled.

"Negative!" Mortifer instructed Nicole while running and narrowly dodging an explosion. "The mission comes first! Get the Mewish scouts out of here! We'll hold the enemy off and try to escape!" Out of ammo for his rifle Mortifer slung the empty gun onto his back and drew duel pistols, then continued firing.

" **I AM NOT LEAVING SALLY!"** Nicole stated firmly, with a hint of fear in her voice.

Letting out a grunt of frustration Mortifer telekinetically formed a makeshift dome out of the deactivated Buzzers, shielding him from the endless barrage of explosive energy balls.

"Listen to him Nicole! My life isn't worth more than anyone else's, and the mewish are in no condition to fight! I need you to get them to safety, then get Sonic and the others here to extract the two of us!" Sally ordered her as she fought her way through a dozen Buzzers to Mortifer, and slid behind him as he let her into his makeshift dome.

For a moment only silence could be heard on the comms. Sally had no doubt that Nicole was having trouble responding to such a bad situation, and was scared of what could happen to her.

"We'l- -e -ack...I prom-se." Nicole's distraught and barely audible voice whispered. As their comms cut in and out, from something jamming it.

Resting her hands on her knees Sally wiped the sweat and blood from her face, then took a moment to catch her breath as the explosions ceased hitting the metal dome. Fighting robots up close with a melee weapon was extremely tiring, even for Mobians like her, who trained everyday and fought all the time against mechs with her energy blades, it was still hard. Mostly because robots are stronger and don't run out of stamina, or blood.

"Please tell me you can keep them from breaking into this dome?" Sally asked and took a deep breath. The clanging of the Buzzers metal legs and pincers thumped loudly as they clambered over the dome, and started chewing through the metal.

"No, but I can kill most of them and clip their wings." Mortifer replied while glancing over his shoulder. "That is, if you can handle the ones without wings." Smirking at the challenge Sally took a stance.

"Oh I can, just try to keep up with me this time?" She teased Mortifer. A grunt was the only response she got.

Without warning Mortifer made the metal explode outward, outright destroying most of the robots and badly damaging those that survived. Rushing out both Sally and Mortifer began stabbing and shooting as many as possible, while the doors in the walls opened, again.

Hearing the sound of squealing tires, Sally spun around and swung her blades downward. Splitting two robots that resembled ladybugs and drove on one wheel, with mounted laser machine guns on both of their sides in half. "Motobugs!" Sally warned Mortifer while dodging and slicing them as they tried to run her over and shoot Mortifer. Dodging the thousands of lasers aimed at him the best he could, Mortifers head suddenly jerked sideways as a few lucky rounds hit his armor, and one ricocheted off his metal face mask. Stumbling slightly he quickly caught himself and done a sonic boom, blowing over any robots around him while he fired his pistols so fast, it sounded like the Motobug's machine guns. But they kept coming out of the wall, including more Buzzers and thousands of other types of other robots, including tanks.

"Get the door open!" Mortifer ordered Sally and telekinetically threw her to the door's panel, but exposed himself in the process.

A Buzzer round quickly found it's mark as it hit him directly in the back, as his armor crackled from absorbing the energy and bits and pieces of it exploded off him. Making him skip across the floor from the blast and slamming Mortifer into the door beside Sally with a loud **CRACK!** as his back connected with the wall.

Ignoring the need to bypass the doors security, Sally went to help Mortifer but stopped as he pointed at her.

"GET THIS FREAKIN DOOR OPEN." Mortifer shouted. While struggling to stand up.

"I'm working as fast as I can!" Sally shouted back at him, while going back to working on the panel again.

The thousands of robots saw their opportunity to kill both of them now that they were cornered, and formed into formations as all their guns began charging up.

"Almost." Sally said to herself out loud. All the bots stopped and began calculating their shots as they took aim

"There." With all calculations complete, their targeting systems locked on.

"Got it!" Sally cried in joy while the giant door slowly began to unlock. Turning around Sally watched in horror as the robots fired creating a massive endless wall of lasers.

Time seemed to slow down to her as she raised her blades in vain to protect herself, but Sally was suddenly pushed towards the open door by Mortifer as he took a stance and outstretched both his hands.

" _Breath, focus."_ The words from Shēngcún's training echoed in Mortifers head as he took a deep breath, and slowed his heart down.

" _Feel with your mind, let it grasp your surroundings. Do not fight the power in you for control, be at peace with it, at peace with the burning fire within."_

The floor beneath his feet started creaking and groaning as it cracked, and Mortifers eye began to glow a burning orange _._

" _Become one with it and allow it to guide all the pain, and rage you have ever felt."_ Rearing back as if he was going to punch he began growling and foaming at the mouth, as his breathing began to quicken _._

" _Become the monster, that you fear the most."_ Everyone Mortifer had ever lost flashed before his eye as he roared, and punched the air with his fist.

An energy like lightning raced through the air, and the metal floor, ceiling and walls, all exploded and were sucked into the energy. As the metal inside the wave of destruction Mortifer created was being pushed forward and moving like a tsunami, it threatened to collapse the underground facility. Everything began shaking, and even some parts caved in just from the power of the energy as it neared the onslaught of lasers.

"Mortifer the doors open!" Sally yelled at him and tried pulling him towards it with no avail, his body was locked in that position and seemed immovable.

"Mort-!" Sally was cut off as the lasers collided with the wall of energy and created a blinding red glow. For a second, there was silence then the explosion and loud clap of the aftershock, which sent Sally and Mortifer tumbling backwards through the door.

Holding his head Mortifer glanced up and quickly slammed the large door shut as the glow in his eye began to fade. The fiery energy from the explosion hit it mere seconds after the door closed, and threatened to blow it down as the metal on it bulged inward from the pressure.

Sally blew a strand of loose hair out of her face as she got off her back and sat up, and groaned from the feeling of fresh bruises.

"After this, I'm never EVER being bait again." She stated while stretching and popping her back.

"AGH!" She suddenly cried out as something grabbed her by the hair and slammed her against the wall. Slashing blindly Sally was released as her blades decapitated half of the robots head that was holding her.

Slumping over and stuttering, the tall sleek silver robot with red glowing eyes then stood back up, as the shimmer of a dozen more cloaked ones could be seen behind it as the lights flickered out. And the sound of katanas being drawn from their backs caused Sally to back towards Mortifer, who seemed oblivious to everything. He just kept growling and angrily yelling in latin as he repeatedly slammed a fist into the floor, and held his head.

"Mortifer! I need you to snap out of it!" Sally pleaded with him desperately. Seeing that her talking wasn't helping Mortifer any she fell silent, and strained to hear any noise that could reveal the location of the finished Stealthbots prototypes.

'Okay Sall, you can do this, you can do this' She tried reassuring herself in her mind. Though that was rather difficult since not a single sound was being made by the Stealthbots, that were no doubt surrounding her and Mortifer.

Licking her lips nervously she tried calming herself 'Just try to remember their weakness! except we never found out their weakness, oh joy.'

She leapt sideways as the blades of the katanas whistled all around her narrowly missing her, except for two that cut into her arm and chest. She didn't even have time to cry out in pain as the same two advanced on Sally with rapid strikes that slowly began gaining speed, and mostly struck at her wounded arm as blood dripped down onto her energy blade, creating a sizzling noise. They were trying to eliminate that arm to weaken her defenses, and she knew it was working as the searing pain increased with each strike she deflected. She wished for Sonic's speed now, he could dodge every one of theses strikes without so much as a sweat.

"Sonic, I'm sorry for the things I never said to you, the dates I skipped because I was too busy trying to live up to my father's legacy." Sally whispered as tears began falling down her face, she knew the inevitable was she coming, that she was going to die, without telling Sonic she loved him.

"And all those times I argued, over stupid things for no reason instead of appreciating what little time we were able to spend together at our special place, the bond we have!" She choked from the pain, and the fear of death while stumbling backwards as the one of the Stealthbots struck the power source for the energized blade on her wounded arm, making it burn out.

"I don't want to leave you!" Hitting a wall with her back as the two bots cornered her she barely deflected a both blades aimed for her neck, but failed to block one Stealthbot's punch as it hit her chest with its palm.

"Mortifer!" Was the last thing Sally gasped, causing Mortifer to stop hitting the floor and turn in her direction as her heart stopped from the force of the blow. Her now lifeless blue eyes stared at him, as her body collapsed onto the floor.

" **ENSURING ELIMINATION OF TARGET."** The Stealthbot's deep robotic voice stated as it raised it's sword up high above it to pierce Sally's heart.

Abruptly it stopped as Mortifer's fist tore through it's chest, then his other hand grabbed it and ripped the Stealthbot in half. Holding one half in each hand Mortifer foamed at the mouth, as he held the two pieces in the air and let out a bone chilling warcry.

* * *

"Yeesssss, that's it Mortifer! Show me your rage! Show me how you slaughter your enemies when all the odds are against you!" Robotnik yelled excitedly as he watched Mortifer intently and reveled in the death of Sally. He was on the edge of his throne as he smiled widely, and wrung his hands together from excitement, while a robot behind him in the shadows collected data from the security cameras and Stealthbots.

"It's so delightful, knowing the pain Sonic will feel, and who he will blame for his poor Sally girl's death. Without her, Sonic, and the KFF will plunge into chaos...Perfect chaos." Robotnik muttered to himself while trying to contain himself. "And Mortifer, if he survives and escapes capture, will leave those pathetic pest after they blame him for her death, and join me once I find out what they have that convinced him to join those rebels. Then! I will finally know the location of Knothole!"

Soon nothing would stand in Robotnik's way of world domination.

* * *

Another Stealthbot collapsed as Mortifer finished beating it into the floor, and spat out the robots head that he had bitten clean off. Grabbing two Katanas from the two destroyed robots, Mortifer smiled maliciously while watching the eleven remaining bots surround him.

"Ad mortem!" He hissed and pointed his sword at each one of them. "Mors!" Charging forward Mortifer deflected their swords as they struck in different directions at the same time so fast it looked as if he was in two places at once. Sparks flew everywhere and lit up the room as the Stealthbots fought the best they could against Mortifer's onslaught, but they could not keep up with his ever increasing speed, and strength.

Deflecting all their strikes at once to the side with the sword in his right hand, Mortifer quickly struck them with the sword in his left hand before they could recover. The high pitched sound of metal being cut echoed as he sliced them into hundreds of pieces, except one who had leaped backwards out of the range of Mortifer's swords. This robot's skill seemed to increase as the others were destroyed and went offline, it even took a stance while it moved like a living being as it walked in a circle around Mortifer.

The way it moved, Mortifer recognized, and it just increased his already blind rage once he remembered who fought like that. Suddenly frozen, the robot was unable to move as Mortifer threw a sword into it's chest then telekinetically crushed it until it was nothing but a flat piece of scrap metal, including the security cameras in the room.

* * *

"I expected more of a fight, Shēngcún." Robotnik sighed, slightly disappointed from how quickly Mortifer had cut the Stealthbots down.

"Even with my skill over him, not even I can outmatch the strenght and telekinetic power he draws from his rage." Shēngcún stated while disconnecting himself from a machine that he had been using to control the Stealthbots.

Drumming his fingers in thought Robotnik muttered. "At least Sally is dead, and the data for my weapon against Sonic is complete." Turning around he motioned for Snively, who was making sure the new robot was functioning properly.

"Snively, Metal Sonic is to be tested in combat situations before he is sent to destroy Sonic, to ensure the data has been processed correctly. Shēngcún, send in the roboticized and cybernetic Mobians! I want Mortifer to be captured alive, by any means necessary."

 **A/N: Translation for "Mors!" means "Death!". Also next time I post a chapter there will be several questions for you readers that will help me make decisions on future chapters based on your opinions.**


	19. Save one life, two more takes its place

**A/N: Welp, this story is about finished. One or two more chapters and it will be over. I want to thank all my favorites and followers:** **Chinerpeton,** **General Joe,** **SirAuruda1st,** **crouchingbastard, crazyman90, and unknown readers. Thank you all for taking time to read this fanfic, even if it sucked pretty bad starting out :P . And many thanks to my proofreader GorillaBub for helping with this, and thanks to God for giving me the gift of writing. I hope you enjoy the last few chapters, I had a blast making this story.**

Old Buildings shook, bending and bowing, like paper, then shattered in one direction, several seconds after a blue blur sped past it so fast, to the naked eye he was unseen. A storm of dust trailed behind wherever he ran, like a sandstorm. He had been running like that forever, throughout the entire abandoned city, even through the battlefield in the distance, searching in vain for a way to save, **someone**.

"Yo, you alright?" Sonic shook his head to clear out his thoughts as he kept running and looked at a ship that had just arrived here, and now was cloaked and flying above him. Woodstock, had apparently been talking to him on the comms, but his worry for Sally had kept his mind elsewhere.

'What if I wasn't fast enough?' Sonic worried to himself. 'What if she's been captured and interrogated, or Roboticized, or-.' He stopped himself, she wasn't dead, couldn't be, she was alive and he knew it, she had to be.

As soon as they got back to Knothole and told Sonic what happened, he didn't wait for the others to follow, or explain how it happened, though he regretted not listening long enough to learn how they had gotten inside now.

"Yeah, just worried about-."

"Mortifer? Ah he's fine! I used to worry about him all the time, until I found out he flat out refuses to die, him and the reaper don't like each other for some reason." Woodstock interrupted. "What!? No no no no! I'm worried about Sally!" Sonic stated while waving his hands in front of him.

"Oooooooooh, you know that makes a lot more sense." Woodstock thought aloud to himself.

In the aircraft above Woodstock spun around and yelled at Nicole, who was in the pilot seat.

"So Nicole how'd you get Mortifers autopilot, Bob, to let you fly back to Knothole?" He questioned Nicole.

"I...I used the code word from one of your memories to access the ship's controls. I hope you don't mind, but with the current situation there was no other choice." Nicole answered apologetically.

Abruptly the ship turned sharply, and Nicole apologized, she was still learning the controls on the ship.

"Maybe you should fly it, Woodstock." Nicole suggested.

"Nah you got it, besides I'm going into combat." He stated and turned back around to look at the KFF fighters with him. "Alright roll call so I can know your name when you die!" Woodstock yelled, getting everyone's attention as they stared at him like he was crazy, and rightfully so.

"Alright we have Sonic, Knuckles, Tails, Nicole, Amy, Rotor, Bunnie, Antoine, Blackjack, Private Ryan, Orrison, and Woodstock!" He was met with an awkward silence. "Okay now that's outta the way, who's ready to go die saving Sonic's girlfriend?" Woodstock said enthusiastically.

Amy and Tails weren't supposed to go at first, but after some angry words from Amy, they let them come along. But, they were to stay in the air with Nicole as backup.

"Oh no, we have a problem!" Nicole informed Woodstock and everyone rushed to the cockpit.

As Nicole made the cloaked aircraft hover just above the rooftops they stared at a massive chaotic battle below, between the Dingos, and an army of Robotnik's robots and Swatbots that came swarming out of the now closed hidden door of the underground base. Explosions from tanks on both sides created small craters, while lasers and bullets flew everywhere.

"So that's where we gotta go to help Mort and Sally? Eh, those BXC- 200's the dingos have will take half your head clean off with one bullet, and the tank's guns will blow you to pieces, seen it happen, not to mention all those Robots with guns. But don't worry! You shouldn't feel anything." Woodstock stated as his internal visor scanned and analyzed everything and everyone down below.

"We're willing to risk it if it means saving Sally." Knuckles spoke for everyone, as he looked down at Sonic who was standing on the ground below, and all the KFF nodded in agreement.

Woodstock hit a button and the back hatch opened up, gunfire immediately echoed loudly.

"Now, let's go kick some butt for Sall!" Sonic could be heard yelling and pumped a fist in the air.

Suddenly the plane jerked and started spinning out of control, and sent everyone flying out into the battlefield below. It had been hit by a stray tank round. Everyone landed with an "Ooof!" except Woodstock, who had landed on a tank, splitting it almost in half with his quills before it exploded. Everyone else had landed on some things that softened the fall, once they realized what it was, most of them, excluding Blackjack, Orrison, and Woodstock scrambled to get up horrified and nauseous. Including Sonic who had rushed down to check on everyone.

Bodies, they had landed on a bodies of dead Dingo's covering the ground that were riddled with holes, some even were ripped open and shredded to pieces with puddles of blood formed beneath them. Antoine threw up as he noticed the blood was soaking into everyone's shoes.

" **The plane hardly took any damage and I've regained control, though the cloaking is still recalibrating! Is everyone okay?"** Nicole asked over the comlink.

"Yep! Just another day of war." Woodstock grunted as he made his miniguns barrels spin and started walking forward. It wasn't until he had taken twenty steps, shot down a helicopter, and cleared a small path ahead of Dingo and robot soldiers that he realized, everyone else was still where they had landed.

"My bad, forgot not everyone can't die!" Woodstock chided himself as bullets and lasers sparked while ricocheting of his body. Walking back he waited until they had grouped up behind him, then marched forward again.

Those that had guns fired with Woodstock, though only at the robots despite Woodstock, Blackjack, and Orrison, repeatedly yelling for them to shoot anything.

Sonic was already wondering why they let Tails come along as he weaved past the gunfire with ease and in between enemies, kicking and punching them at supersonic speeds.

He saw Tails stare every direction in fear, as screams of pain, and death echoed everywhere along with endless gunfire. Tails, Amy and Antoine would gag and throw up whenever they saw what Woodstock's gun did to the Dingos. Even Knuckles, after a minute started looking away like Sonic and the group. When Woodstock's lasers would rip through flesh and the dingos screamed as their bodies jerked unnaturally before hitting the ground, they would cover their ears.

Had he known it was this bad, or what Tails and Amy would see, he never would let them a hundred miles near here.

They weren't supposed to be out here anyways, but after the plane was hit they didn't have a choice.

Of course, none of them had been in a battle before. Sure they had been in plenty of fights though mostly special ops missions, and had seen some people die, but this, this was nothing compared to anything. And yet Sonic noticed Woodstock was humming carefree, as if the death around him meant nothing, he didn't even flinch when a dingo exploded in front of him from a direct hit from a tank shot and splattered blood and pieces on him.

Sonic suddenly realized, like a puzzle that just had the final piece put, why Woodstock and Mortifer where the way they are, why they isolated themselves like no one could understand their pain, because none of them could. Who could fight through this their entire lives and not be like them? Lose everything to this and yet still carry on?

All his pride was gone, and Sonic felt shame and guilt for bathing in the glory of being Knotholes hero instead of crediting soldiers that went out everyday into this. Then he remembered, what Mortifer had growled at him a few nights after they first came into Knothole.

"You bask in your glory and fame while families mourn the dead soldiers fighting in your war, and have to live without the ones they love, because you're the hero and that's what heroes do. Me? I'm a soldier, not a hero. I see what needs to be done and do it, not for the fame, glory, or the publicity. And you say you know but you have no idea what soldiers see in war, what we do to another living being just to live. You've never seen a dying man, with his insides hanging out, crying for his mother's arms. I don't care if the world hates me or says I'm a murderer, every time I kill I feel no shame, or guilt because when I end someone's life, I end it knowing that he can never hurt anyone ever again. Soldiers fight to end wars, while you hero, live off it."

"Sonic look out!" The sound of Ryan warning Sonic of bullets aimed at him jerked him out of his thoughts, as he quickly dodged it, then froze as he felt something wet and warm hit his back, and heard Ryan scream in pure agony behind him as bullets tore into him.

"Woodstock! Man down! Knuckles flip that humvee over to give us cover!" Blackjack ordered.

 **ZIIIIIIIIING!**

A high velocity anti-tank round bounced off Woodstock and sparks showered everywhere as he stumbled back a few steps, then caught himself before looking at Ryan with pity.

"He's gone." Woodstock stated, before he went back to shooting his gun and bullets whizzed by, with a few bouncing off him, and a few hitting the humvee as Knuckles moved it around like a shield.

Ryan's pale face and glazed eyes stared at nothing as Blackjack set him down, yet something that he could only see while his mouth opened and closed as if he was trying to form words but couldn't. Blood slowly dripped out of Ryan's mouth as his body began quivering and spasming.

"You have to help him!" Amy cried as tears dripped down her face and Bunnie hugged Tails to keep him from watching.

"It's okay Ryan, it's okay, It'll be over soon." Blackjack comforted Ryan as Sonic knelt and took the dying soldiers hand, and felt him take one final breath, then die as his lifeless eyes stared at him.

Quickly he let go of Ryan's hand as a shiver ran up his spine. It was his fault. He had all the speed in the world yet he caused this young Mobian to perish

"Forward! Push Forward!" Blackjack ordered.

Letting out a roar of anger Knuckles spun around and sent the humvee flying, and onto rows of robots, and Dingoes as it flipped and rolled, crushing them. Sonic and Knuckles charged into the fray in front of Woodstock, while the others stayed in a tight formation and attacked anything that came close enough.

"Nicole, we could get their faster if you bring our plane around and do a gun run. The skies are clear, for now."

" **Okay, I'm targeting the robots now."** Nicole responded.

"Robots? No I need you to target the dingos too, cause I'm pretty sure they're not on our side." Woodstock corrected her, slightly confused.

" **But...I...I...I've never killed anyone before, I don't know if I can. Maybe we don't have to shoot them!"** Nicole pleaded with Woodstock.

"Have to if you want to save Sally, besides there's a first time for everything!" He replied cheerfully as he turned his gun on some Robots to help Knuckles who was pinned down from their gunfire, a few of their shots grazed Knuckles shoulder barely missing him.

" **I can't-!"**

"Bob, mark all hostile targets in vicinity to objective and open fire." Woodstock interrupted Nicole. Abruptly the plane uncloaked above him and rained fire down on hundreds of enemies with every single gun on the aircraft. Blowing everything it hit to pieces and creating a red mist where Dingoes had once been.

Nicoles comms went silent, as she stared mouth agape in silent horror at what the gun left behind.

'How could there be so many wars in the past, and no doubt to come in the future, If living beings saw how so many died such horrible deaths!?' She thought to herself.

"Look alive everyone! We're almost there!" Woodstock yelled, then grinned as he walked through, the red mist.

* * *

Waking up, Sally gasped for air as she looked around frantically and her eyes adjusted to the darkness. Was she dead? She couldn't tell. As she tried to sit up Sally winced in pain from her wounds and laid back down.

She couldn't be dead right? There was pain so she had to be alive, at least she hoped. But then again she had never died before, so she had no idea what it was like or what she should be able to feel.

She jerked in surprise, and groaned as the light from her only remaining energized blade caught her attention.

'That stealthbot probably knocked it off when he hit me.' Remembering the fight and the Stealthbots Sally scrambled to move as she sat up and leaned against a wall, slowly her eyes scanned the darkness in front of her. Raising her arm to wipe her eyes and forehead she noticed something, her arm and chest was bandaged. Looking back out in the darkness Sally saw what looked like bodies in the dark, along with blood and oil covering the floor.

Suddenly, something moved out of the corner of her eye. Instinctively she pointed her arm and tried activating her energy blade, only to realize the one on her arm was broken. That's when she saw someone by the glowing blade, Mortifer.

She immediately shrank away as the glow illuminated him. Crimson blood covered his entire body and face, one hand that was trembling, was resting on his knee along with one katana, while he stared at the ceiling. On one hand, she was slightly startled and terrified by how eerie he looked, as his body, painted with blood glowing in the light.

On the other hand, she was intrigued by his face, Sally wasn't quite sure what word could describe the look on his face, he even seemed oblivious to Sally's movement and the real world.

'Maybe both of us are dead and we're just waiting for the angel of death.' Sally mused to herself. She then noticed Mortifer's hand had stopped shaking as he clenched, and unclenched it.

Slowly Sally scooted herself closer towards Mortifer, though he still didn't seem to notice despite the noise she made. It just felt, odd, Mortifer was always on guard with guns at the ready to shoot anything that threatened him.

Sally froze as Mortifer slowly looked in her direction then stared, with a blank expression and cocked his head to one side.

"Uhhh, hi?" Sally greeted, while smiling awkwardly. Muttering something under his breath Mortifer went back to staring at the ceiling, as Sally scooted right beside him.

"What happened?" She asked.

"Your heart stopped beating, so I used an electric current from a Stealthbots battery to restart it." He answered nonchalantly.

Upon him mentioning what happened to her, Sally remembered everything and instantly wished she hadn't.

Mortifer noticed Sally shivering in fear and an all too familiar look in her eyes that he'd seen countless times in fellow soldiers. wrapping her arms tightly around herself, she asked Mortifer another question.

"Have you ever felt what death is like? The feeling of..." Sally was trying to find a way to explain it but her mind was foggy and she was having a hard time thinking.

"Being helpless to do anything about it. Hoping, that your sacrifice isn't in vain, for the cause you gave it to, and the fear of what happens to those you care about, those that rely on you when you're dead. Regret for doing the things you shouldn't have done and never doing what you should have. Seeing everything you ever did wrong and knowing, you'll be judged for everyone of those actions." Mortifer finished for Sally, and wiped some blood off the swords handle.

"Yeah." Sally croaked. "I know you don't like talking but, I want something to keep my mind off...what happened."

"I'm not doing the whole stupid cliche thing, where for no reason I tell you my life story cause were stuck down here for awhile." Mortifer detesteted.

"What about what you said, when we were on the plane to Blackjack? Something about if we wanted to win this war?"

"Reserve your equipment and good weapons for only special forces, that's what you should do with all your equipment instead of wasting it on grunts." Sally was beginning to wonder if it would have been better if they had kept silent.

"Their living beings you know, like you and me." Sally retorted with a hint of shock in her voice. "And how can you say that? When I know you've been in their place before, when you first signed up for the military." She winced in pain as Mortifer roughly put his canteen in her hand.

"First off, I didn't sign up, or get a choice like you to fight for your so called **freedom**." Mortifer growled and didn't acknowledge her thanks, for the water.

"I was born into it, raised to kill and survive by any means necessary. Secondly, yes I've been in their place so I know what works, what doesn't, and how not to die or lose a war." It took her a second before she realized she had been gulping the water down, and the canteen was almost empty.

Sheepishly, Sally put the cap back on and gave it back to him before he continued.

"If you want your KFF to maybe, just maybe win this war you need to strategize your low resources, by giving it only to those that will most likely survive and win battles. Another thing you need to learn, is that sometimes you need to sacrifice lives in order for a plan or mission to succeed, that's part of being a leader. You know what I'm saying is true."

"I've been told this a thousand times before and, some even told me it was like chess before I started commanding. How you have the pawns, the knights, the bishops, the rooks, and the queen and king, like the command structure in the military. Except, you're ordering living beings to go die. Trust me, I know from experience what it feels like when soldiers die under my command." Sally replied and stared at the bodies hidden by the darkness in front of her.

"And yet though you know the cold, hard, truth Sally, that sacrifices need to be made to win this war, you won't accept it. Until that's accepted by you, this war will drag on until everyone is either dead, or roboticized." Mortifer finished and stood up. Silently Sally stood up with him and slid her only energized blade onto her hand.

"Thank you, for saving my life." She whispered to him. Though they didn't like each other much it seemed right to Sally, to appreciate what he had done. This time he seemed to acknowledge her thanks, unlike with the water with a nod as he glanced at her with worried eyes.

'Is he scared of me dying?' Sally thought in disbelief.

"If you die, so does the KFF, and Vanilla and Creams chance of living a free and happy live." he grunted as if he had read her thoughts. Then quickly before she could respond he moved into the darkness and metal could be heard creaking as he forced a door open.

"We have to get moving, and quietly." his voice whispered out from somewhere in the blackness.

Holding her sore arm up she took a few steps forward and almost gasped aloud before Mortifer's hand clamped on her mouth to silence her before any more sound was made by her.

Covering the floor was bodies of Roboticized Mobians, and cybernetic ones that were half metal half flesh. All of them either had a hole from being stabbed with a sword in their chest, or were cut in half and missing their heads

'The blood on Mortifer, was from them. Why!? It's not like these Mobians wanted to hurt them, they were forced to by Robotnik! Slaves to him!'

"My guns were out of ammo except my revolver, and I had no stuns rounds left, so it was either mine and your life, or theirs." Mortifer explained, as if the right choice was obvious.

Sally's vision blurred as the world seemed to spin around her, she was having problems taking everything in that happened all at once and her brain seemed to quit working

'They were innocent.' was the only thought that repeated in her head over, and over again. 'Innocent men, women, and children.' when the world around her had stopped spinning, she became aware her energized blade was off, and she was on Mortifer's back as he walked cautiously through the darkness.

One hand holding a revolver with the hammer pulled back, and the other with a sword poised and ready to strike in any moment.

Sally tried her best to keep from laying her head on his shoulder, because of the blood on him, though she realized with a sickening thought that the blood was already touching her, since Mortifer was covered from head to toe in it.

It took awhile before she finally rested her head on his shoulder, the only reason Sally did was because she was too exhausted to hold her head up.

Neither one spoke as what seemed like hours went by with them only stopping for Mortifer to adjust her position on his back, or to break a door open with either his foot, or telekinetically.

"You do know with my heart stopping that it could of caused brain damage that I'm not aware of yet." Sally broke the silence in hushed whisper to keep her thoughts from wandering back to, more, unpleasant ones, as Mortifer broke down yet another door.

"Can you still activate your energy blades and fight?" Mortifer questioned.

"Yes."

"Good, that's the only brain cells you need." He replied dryly in a voice that she couldn't quite tell whether he was being sarcastic, or not.

For a reason, she didn't know why, Sally spoke without thinking. As the words left her mouth, it caught both her, and Mortifer off guard.

"Why do you hate my family?" Silence hung in the air and she felt Mortifer's back stiffen. 'Stupid stupid, stupid! You don't ask someone like him, that question when he's the only thing keeping you alive!' She mentally groaned to herself.

"I don't hate, your family." Mortifer answered slowly in a low voice, as if he had to force the words out, and hated himself for doing so.

"I hate, your father for being an ignorant fool and causing the death of my father, putting my brother through all the pain he suffered, and the deaths of my comrades when it all could have been avoided had he listened to my father, and Robotnik. His advisors said the enemy would never attack there despite Robotnik and my Father warning them, and that the Acorn kingdom forces needed to be spread out somewhere else. They weren't ready when they launched a surprise attack, exactly where we had predicted. The entire Overlander army pushed into the acorn kingdom with little resistance, since your father's army was elsewhere, and would have made it to the capitol for the second time in that war. But little did we or the Overlanders know that the battalion was in their path to victory. For ten days we dug our boots into the ground and killed wave, after wave, after wave, day and night, every minute either guns fired or knives stabbed flesh. It wasn't until almost none of my battalion was left alive, and the overlanders had lost three quarters of their army and fell back to regroup, that the Acorn army arrived. Everyone in my battalion except a handful, died fighting for land that your father ended up giving back to the Overlanders. No one even hardly knew about the battle, his advisors had made sure the media never caught wind of it, it would ruin their reputation if everyone knew that mercenaries protected the country better than their leaders. Not even a memorial for the dead, that held back the entire overlander army and helped turned the tide of the war."

The only reason no doubt, Mortifer had told her this was so Sally knew why he treated her with so much hostility. At least that's what it seemed like to her. "Everyone makes mistakes." Sally defended her father.

"No ones perfect"

"Would you say that if you were in my shoes?" Mortifer growled in a low rumble, back at her. Silence fell over them again.

Stopping he looked down at the floor, Mortifer examined it carefully, as if he saw something through it.

"What is it?" Sally asked him.

"There's something below us, maybe an exit." Mortifer answered before flicking his wrist and blowing a hole through several levels below, six total.

"No, that's impossible." He suddenly muttered to himself in shock before quickly jumping down to the bottom. She was going to ask him what it was, but when they both were inside the sixth floor down, a large factory, her eyes widened at the sight.

Hundreds of thousands of cybernetic beings, just like Woodstock except without the fake skin, were rowed up and in stasis.

"Are these all?" Sally went to ask, but stopped in fear of hearing the answer.

"Were, Mobians, not anymore. Now their ruthless killing machines that need to be destroyed." Seeing the torn look on her face, Mortifer pointed his sword at the cyborgs.

"Look at them, just one of those could wipe out all your forces in Las Megas, and walk away untouched. Trust me I know what they can do, my brother is one, and the process he put their minds through, there's no saving them." he stated before lowering the sword and staring at her, with that blank unreadable gaze she hated.

"We both know what needs to be done...I'll make their deaths quick." He whispered quietly. That's why she hated it, because it was as if Mortifer could read her mind, and see her inner turmoil.

Tearing away from his gaze she stared at the floor ashamed and angry, at herself. Ashamed, at what she knew needed to be done in order to help free Mobius from Robotnik, the mass killing of innocents, forced to be war machines. Angry, at the fact she was completely helpless to save any of them, that she knew there was no other way no matter how hard she tried to think and denied it. Sally wanted nothing more than to see Robotnik die a slow, painful death, for all of this.

"If you won't do it to protect the KFF, then I'll do it to protect Vanilla and Cream." Mortifer whispered again as he turned and slowly walked towards the cybernetic soldiers. Sally noticed he hadn't said it with anger, or harshness in his voice. But with a voice of someone doing something he disliked, but didn't hate himself for it, someone taking life because of duty, but only to preserve another's life, someone who done anything whether it was deemed good or evil, to protect those closest to him, to survive.

She made no move to stop him, and said nothing. For what could you do in this situation? What could you say? What could her father do, if he was here with all his wisdom? How could her father, or her make a right, out of two wrongs?

Sally stumbled back quickly and swung her energized bladed at the sudden sight of something dropping through the hole and landing where she once stood. A small strand of hair slowly swirled and floated to the ground before it dawned on Sally, as she touched her head, that was a strand of her hair. She was almost killed, again.

Taking a stance, Sally looked at a Roboticized Mobian, a girl, with one arm cut off was limping towards her, metal legs creaking from being somewhat broken from falling down such heights. Swinging her blade in the air Sally noticed she had stopped at the sight of it and, seemed to hesitate, even made several expressions as if resisting her programing.

Her eyes widened and mouth opened in surprise, as her body was lifted in the air from one hand behind her by the throat, and a blade burst out of her chest sending sparks all over the floor.

"T-t-thank Y-y-y-y-ou." Her glitching voice sobbed to Mortifer. Pulling the Katana out from her chest, Mortifer let her drop to the ground and stared when Sally rushed over to her.

"T-t-t-tell my-y-y-y paren-n-n-nts, I-I-I-I-I'm-m so-o-r-r-ry! F-f-or al-l-l the p-p-people I k-killed i-i-n this bod-d-dy! Fo-r-r-r kil-l-lling m-my lit-t-ttle….brothe-er." She went limp in Sally's arms, those last words echoing as Mortifer and Sally stood in silence.

It had been proven by Rotor and Tails, that anyone Roboticized were aware of everything they done, but could almost do nothing to stop themselves from complying with orders, no matter what the orders.

"I'll kill you Robotnik! You hear me!? If it's the last thing I do I'll kill you! When I'm done doing everything you did to all these people you'll wish you were dead!" Sally screamed in hatred at the top of her lungs, while cradling the dead girl's head in her arms. Her words reverberated off the walls, only to be replaced by a haunting silence.

* * *

" _Fall back! Fall-!"_ A Dingo's command was cut short as he was crushed by a thirty foot centipede like robot's body that slithered over what was left of him. His soldiers fired at it, but were blown to pieces by the rockets fired from it's back.

" _Bring the tanks around and take down the centipede!"_ One Dingo desperately cried while using a pile of bodies for cover. Tank rounds exploded all over the metal centipede and cause some damage to its long body, but it continued towards the dingo who had yelled for the tanks.

Flattening his body the dingo held onto his helmet and closed his eyes in fear, then noticed a loud screeching sound like a saw cutting metal. And when he looked up, the centipede came to a halt a few feet from him, the entire length of the body, including the head, had been cut in half.

" _Wheh! Looks like I'm going home after all!"_ He laughed nervously, while tipping his helmet at the tank gunner in thanks who seemed bewildered at what just happened.

The buzzing saw sound came again but before the Dingo could leap back to his cover, a rapidly spinning ball with spikes in the middle slammed into him. His body stuck to it for a mere moment, spinning with it, before the mangled remains were thrown out from underneath it into the air. The ball continued forward slicing several tanks in a row in half, and setting off the ammunition inside them causing the tanks to explode. The ball leaped up in the air, and Woodstock uncoiled himself as he landed on a flamebot, ripped the fuel tank off its back and threw it into a mass of Robots, and shot it sending napalm spraying everywhere melting and sticking to any metal it touched.

"I love the smell of napalm in the morning." Woodstock said to himself, quite proudly

"Except I can't smell it, dangit! I need to get better movie lines for cyborgs."

"Why are we moving away from the entrance!? Sall is in there!" Sonic yelled at Woodstock and came skidding to a halt beside him as the everyone else caught up, sweat dirt and blood sticking to their skin like paint, along with a few new bruises and cuts.

"Cause, going that way would be too complicated. And I can see exactly where Mortifer is at due to the advanced tracker inside his eyepatch that me and Tails made. I'm sure Sally is with him...maybe" Woodstock answered and looked up into the sky

"BOB, send down my Annihilator!" Woodstock ordered dramatically, and stuck his arm out as if to catch something.

"Just cause you see him doesn't mean we can get to him from here." Knuckles stated, and almost everyone jerked as a shell exploded nearby and Woodstock caught what looked like an oversized rocket launcher.

"Whatever that underground structure is made of, not even my quills when I ball up can penetrate the outer metal layer." He explained while adjusting the weapons power level. "However this baby, can. Knuckles, keep me from skidding please."

Confused at first Knuckles put his hands on Woodstock's back, and carefully avoided his quills.

As he squeezed the trigger, it made a high pitched noise when it charged, then energy exploded forward in a thick solid beam. Woodstock nearly fell back onto Knuckles before the echidna caught him and heaved with all his might as the knockback from the weapon pushed back, Knuckles didn't want to be crushed, or impaled.

As the beam continued nonstop, it burned large a hole straight into the ground.

Watching intently, and calculating the beam's trajectory, Woodstock abruptly let go of the trigger, and peered down the hole and the dozens of stories of metal it had burnt through.

"Don't worry Morty! I'm coming to help!" Woodstock yelled down into it.

Mortifer's angry but unintelligible yelling answered him. Before anyone could do anything Woodstock cannonballed into the hole, though he only fell a few stories down before solid metal plates sprung out to seal the hole he had made. It caught him in the middle of it, and the mechanisms groaned as it pushed against his metal body.

"Hi, how's your day been?" Woodstock greeted a Swatbot. "Gimme me a minute, and I'll get my hand out for you to shake."

The Swatbot fired a single shot, that ricocheted off Woodstock's head and through its own head, then fell backwards..

"Man, sucks to be you huh?" Woodstock told the Swatbot.

Gears creaked and began groaning even louder for some reason, then started opening back up, and Woodstock started falling again.

Finally, with a thundering crash he hit the bottom, and bounced off the floor and slammed into the wall without putting a dent in either one.

"Do you always have to make things complicated!?" Mortifer chastised Woodstock, as he grabbed him and drug him to where Sally was holding a body. "I said to wait up there, and I would get me and Sally out you **stulte**!"

"Oh, my bad." Woodstock apologized. Standing up with the girls body Sally looked at the ceiling that was sealed again.

"How can we get out now?" She asked, and was forced to lean back a little as Woodstock jumped up and loomed over her, while making loud shushing noises and pointing at Mortifer.

Mortifer had put the sword down and closed his eyes as he clasped his palms together, then slowly spread his arms out wide, as if something was pushing back against him.

"He's focusing all his telekinesis, takes lots of concentracion and he can't feel around him when he does it." Woodstock explained.

Mortifer's jaw tightened.

Woodstock went to say something else, but discovered he couldn't move his mouth because of Mortifer. After prying at his own mouth for a few seconds with his hands, Woodstock stopped trying and gave Mortifer a sour look.

Everything shook and groaned again, Mortifer heaved then slightly floated above the ground as he pushed his hands further out, his teeth bared in determination, and slowly a sliver of light shone through.

Once it was wide enough for someone to fit through, he moved one arm to Sally and both her, and the body at first slowly started floating upward, but Mortifer quickly sped up them up to alarming speeds.

Shouts of joy came from Sonic, and the others above as they saw her coming up towards them. A small smile formed on Mortifer's face, if it could even be called that, as Sally neared the top of the hole.

She glanced down at Mortifer who looked almost like an ant, and gasped as a bright laser hit where Mortifer stood and exploded in bright red flames. The metal seals started closing again, and Sally started falling down.

"Gotcha! It's okay Sall!" Sonic exclaimed as he caught her by the arm and held on while desperately lifting Sally up with the extra weight as the metal seals came closer, and closer to crushing her.

"Pull up! Pull up!" Sally yelled. Sonic, Tails, Nicole, Amy, Rotor, Bunnie, and Antoine. Had formed a chain of bodies with Knuckles on top.

Grunting loudly Knuckles walked backwards, dragging them all up, and pulled even harder upon hearing a loud _**Krunch**_ , from inside the hole.

Finally all of them were pulled out and everyone rushed to Sally, who was embracing Sonic tightly, crying into his chest as he ran his hands through her hair while whispering soothing words into her ear.

"Where are Woodstock and Mortifer!?" Blackjack yelled, as him and Orrison fired back at Swatbots marching towards them.

"Down there...save my life...explosion...don't know if…" Sally mumbled out.

Sitting down behind cover Blackjack ran a hand down his face while staring in disbelief at the hole.

Upon hearing what Sally said, Knuckles jumped in the hole onto the metal buried in the ground and slammed his fist into it rapidly. Bunnie, and Tails joined him after staring for a moment, and started trying to break through it beside Knuckles, with a laser from her metal hand and a tool from one of Tails pouches.

"No, no no no no no NO!" Blackjack roared as he stood up from his cover, exposing himself while letting out a battle cry and cut the Swatbots down with his gun, emptying it. Drawing his knife he charged into their lines, cutting and stabbing wires and metal, before one Bot hit the knife shattering it and shot Blackjack's shoulder, he never flinched as he tore the Swatbots head off, and beat on any robots close enough to hit.

Rushing forward Orrison grabbed him and struggled to get Blackjack back to cover as he swung now broken bloodied fist. It took all of Orrison's strength to pull him behind cover and keep him there as he laid down suppressing fire to keep the Swatbots back.

"Nicole, we need extraction!" Orrison informed her as lasers hit beside his face, and Blackjack roughly shrugged himself out of the Chameleons grip and snatched his gun off the ground.

Coming to a hover over them the ship laid down cover fire as it's back hatch opened and Nicole stood there, motioning for them to get in. Sonic picked Sally up, and led Amy and Tails into it while Orrison rushed to the hole in the ground and yelled for them to climb out and into the ship.

"Not without them!" Knuckles replied between punches that done nothing to the metal.

"The Swatbots are surrounding us! We don't leave now, we die!" Orrison stated, as if to prove his point a laser skinned his helmet.

Jumping down into the hole, Blackjack threw Knuckles and Bunnie out then climbed out and shoved them towards the ship.

"They're gone! Now get inside the ship!" He ordered bitterly.

Swatbots swarmed all around the ship, and the KFF fighters rushed to it and jumped inside as it took off and the back hatch closed.

Silence, for the first time in what seemed like forever to them it was silent, but it didn't seem right.

Amy, Tails, and Antoine stared at nothing, trying to forget every image bored into their heads of death.

Knuckles, and Bunnie were avoiding looking at each other because they knew what they had just done, they left them to die, ran away to save their own lives. Though they could have done nothing had they stayed it didn't stop the shame they felt.

Nicole silently tended to Blackjack's bloodied fist and shoulder as he stared angrily at his own two hands. At the fact that war, had taken something he didn't know he had, brothers.

In the corner Sonic was rocking Sally in his arms as she snuggled into his chest and stared at the object in her hand, the arm of the girl, the only thing left of the girl. The rest of her had been crushed, and Sally had watched it happen.

Curling himself into a ball, Orrison hugged his gun, and fell asleep unaffected by the planes movement, and what had happened out there. Hardly a word was spoken on their way back to Knothole.

 **A/N: If you made it this far it must've not sucked :P**

 **Once again to all my readers, thank you.**


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